After All Our Trouble, We Have This
by Banshi13
Summary: "I'm ending this," McGarrett muttered after a few moments of silence. "I'm not coming back until Wo Fat is in the ground. I'll dig his own grave and bury him myself if I have to, but my father is dead, my mother is running all over the world in hiding, my sister and I were uprooted from our lives, and now he's got Danny locked somewhere in a basement in the middle of Japan."
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note_ : What can I say? I finally decided to give the new Hawaii Five-O a try, and I have not been disappointed in the least. I am a huge fan of the original Hawaii Five-O and had very high expectations for the revamped version which have been met in spades. It's safe to say that I am a dyed in the wool #McDanno fan, and I would be quite pleased if the decision was made to put these two characters together as a couple in canon. Long story short, I feel the writers, as well as the actors, give us, the audience, enough leeway in the series to see that as a possibility. Whether it will actually happen canon-wise though, is debatable. If you ask me, I personally believe that producers/writers/directors, as well as the actors themselves, are on course for a romantic relationship between Steve and Danny, but they're going to make us wait for it. So, for now, I, and others that ship these wonderful characters played by two fantastically talented actors, will have to content ourselves with fanfictions.

Continuing with my uncharacteristically long author's note, you will notice that our main antagonist is alive and well for the purposes of this story. For timeline references, this story is set somewhere in the second half of Season 7.

 _Disclaimer:_ Hawaii Five-O, as well as the characters found within the series, are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions. No profit is being made off this work. The only thing I claim any kind of ownership to is the story itself, and I'd be amazed if someone hadn't thought of something like this already.

 _ **Hawaii Five-O – 9:00am, Hawaii Time**_

 _ **Day 1**_

Danny couldn't remember the last time his head had hurt as badly as it was hurting now. The slightest movement of his neck brought with it the feeling that a stampede of gazelle was trampling over his brain, causing an unrelenting, nauseating pounding between his ears. When he tried to breathe to reduce the desire to vomit, that caused a completely new set of problems, the number one, and most concerning issue, being that if he breathed too deeply, the familiar pressure mixed with pain would flare from his ribs. If he had to guess, he figured at least two definitely bruised, possibly fractured ribs – maybe three. Either way, movement of any kind was not advisable. He supposed he could thank God that at least it was dark, and therefore the pain striking through his head could have been worse than it was.

Then again, Danny hadn't been especially religious since he was a teenager, a non-practicing Catholic who only crossed himself and said the Hail Father's and Mary's when Steve was bound and determined to do something that would, in all probability, get them both killed, or at least severely maimed.

The last thing Danny remembered was waking up in his room to a strange noise and reaching for his firearm before being attacked. He'd been tossed from his bed onto the floor, had fought back as best he could, and for his trouble had earned the headache and chest pains he was currently experiencing. He hadn't seen his assailants, and he'd known then, as he knew now, that there had been more than one. Now, as he looked around the darkened room, he could feel the familiar sense of panic welling within his stomach. His claustrophobia was rearing its ugly head, and even though he couldn't see exactly how large or small the room was, the urge to succumb to a panic attack was growing ever stronger. He had no idea where he was, couldn't see any windows or doors, and was brought here against his will – he was trapped.

Danny rolled onto his back, and immediately regretted it. His head swam, nausea began to quickly mix with the panic already there, which was not a good combination, and with no light, there was nothing for his eyes to focus on, which would have almost certainly helped with the sensation that he was on a boat in the middle of the ocean with a hurricane sitting on top of him. Resting quietly for a few moments, Danny counted internally to ten, and when that didn't center him, he increased it to twenty, then thirty, before giving that technique up all together and choosing instead to focus on the roster for the 91 Yankees…. which worked for all of five seconds.

It occurred to him that no one would know where to look for him. He'd been taken in the middle of the night, so it was unlikely that any of his neighbors had been awake to witness anything. He was single, regrettably, which meant no one had been sleeping beside him when he was taken – which, as Danny mulled that over, was likely a good thing, otherwise that unfortunate soul might be dead presently. He had more than enough guilt in his heart; he could do without the mortification that would ensue with the knowledge that someone had died for, or because of, him.

How long he'd been there, Danny had no idea, nor did he know what time it was, but at caught the sound of what sounded like the shuffling feat outside his door. As it creaked open and the first artificial rays of light shone through, the cop squinted and lifted a hand to give himself some relief from the sudden crack in the darkness. He watched as a shadowed figure walked into the room and heard the door close behind them. Just after that, the flick of a light switch was heard, and Danny looked away as brightness filled the room.

"Detective Williams."

Ah, crap. Of all the voices Danny had never wanted to hear again, this one topped the list. But, he was also in pain, his head was still throbbing – maybe he'd mis-heard. However, as his eyes adjusted slowly but surely to the light and he was finally able to lay eyes on his kidnapper, Danny decided that unless there was another Asian man with a serious case of Harvey Two Face syndrome walking on God's Earth, he was most definitely looking at one of the most notorious criminals he'd ever had the displeasure of tangling with.

Wo Fat stood before Danny with all the ease and swagger of a man who knew he was in full control of the situation, and that didn't bode well for the detective at all. Danny didn't answer as Wo Fat addressed him. In fact, he made the decision right then and there to simply keep his normally hot tempered and quick shooting mouth shut. There was only one reason why Wo Fat would take Danny, and he couldn't help the tight feeling that returned full force right in the pit of his stomach. He watched Wo Fat pull something out of his pocket and quickly recognized it as his own cell phone, and much to his dismay, the phone was unlocked.

"Never use someone's birthday as your password," Wo Fat smirked, navigating through the phone and bringing up the camera. Danny, while making a mental note to change the pass code should he ever get his phone back, watched as the man held it up, lens facing him, and heard the sound effect of photo after photo of him being snapped. When Wo Fat was done, Danny saw the man's thumb sliding over the screen, and that anxious feeling deep within only flared higher and stronger. He knew what Wo Fat was doing, knew he was texting those photos, knew who he was sending them to, and he still kept his mouth shut because he also knew talking now would only make matters worse. Sure enough, barely a minute had passed before his phone started ringing, and he glared daggers at Wo Fat as the man raised the phone to his ear and answered.

"Good morning, Brother."

 _ **Hawaii Five-O – 9:00am, Hawaii Time**_

 _ **Day 1**_

"Check these out," Chin held up what appeared at first glance to Steve to be a simple, thin bit of plastic no more than an inch in length. His interest didn't exactly peak, but when he saw Kono's face lit up like Christmas morning, quirked his mouth a bit and folded his arms. "Alright. I am checking those out. What are they?"

"These, Boss, are GPS tracking devices." Kono grinned. Steve rewarded her with slightly lifted eyebrows. "What's so special about these, Kono? We've had GPS for years now."

"They're special because of where they can go," Chin answered. He held out his forearm and delicately balanced one of the GPS trackers on the skin just below his elbow. "It can be implanted anywhere within a person's body. It's the same technology veterinarians use to chip animals."

"Oh, that's great," Steve stepped forward and gently took one of the devices between his fingers. "Hey, you know this'll be great for undercover work." Both Chin and Kono were nodding their heads in agreement. "And not just for that – if we ever have to chip an inanimate object, we can imbed this into it," Kono's head disappeared below the comms table in the center of Five-O headquarters and when she reappeared, was holding what looked like a cell phone in her hand. "The best part about these is that they're made with a special durable plastic, so it can't be picked up by metal detectors and the GPS is encrypted." She slid the mobile looking device across the table towards Steve. "And because it's encrypted, it can only be picked up with a matching sensor."

"These were made specifically for law enforcement operations in mind," Chin supplied, grinning from ear to ear. "So, who's gonna be the guinea pig and try it out?" Steve looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well we can't just expect them to work perfectly on the first try." Kono grinned, looking between her cousin and her boss. "So, someone is going to need to volunteer to have it implanted so we can test it."

"Oh, well, okay, in that case, I volunteer Danny," Steve laughed, feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket. He reached down and dug it out, seeing the alert for a picture message from his partner.

There were not many things in the world that could make his blood run cold, his chest tighten, and his stomach clench all at once, but the picture he was currently staring at did the trick. His fingers flew over to the phone icon and pressed it, and Steve brought the mobile to his ear. He didn't miss that Kono and Chin had both gone quiet and he waved at them to stay that way for the moment. He heard the ring tone sound twice before a voice answered the phone that was distinctly, _definitely,_ not Danny.

" _Good morning, Brother."_ Steve could almost hear the smile in Wo Fat's voice _. "I take it you got the message."_

"What do you want, Wo Fat?" He didn't miss the way Kono and Chin's bodies tensed when he mentioned the man by name, and he quickly flipped his finger over the screen to put the phone on speaker.

" _A simple conversation. We didn't get as far as I would have liked during our last meeting."_

"So, you take one of my team hostage to get me to come around, is that it?" Steve snapped his fingers at Kono and mouthed the word 'trace', and she hopped to it, fingers flying over the digital keyboard as she attempted to lock on to the signal Danny's phone was emitting.

" _More or less. And, since it would be in Mr. Williams' best interest to have this conversation as soon as is possible, I will save you the trouble of attempting to locate me via your GPS tracking software. There is a commercial plane leaving for Tokyo in three hours. Be on it."_

" _No, no, no Steve, don't you dare, dammit! You listen to me, don't-"_

Steve's gut cramped painfully. "I want to talk to him."

The line went dead.

"Sorry, Steve – we didn't get him." Kono gave Steve a grim look.

The SEAL nodded, hands on his hips as he stared at his phone, the photo of Danny looking up at him, equal parts confusion, fury, and if Steve was honest, just the tiniest hint of fear running through him. "I'm going to Tokyo."

"I'll book the tickets." Chin made to move to his office to do just that, but Steve's emphatic 'no' stopped him.

"I need you and Kono to stay here, hold down the fort." When both cousins looked like they were about to argue, Steve shook his head. "Five-O still has to operate, we still have open cases, and I don't put it past Wo Fat to take Danny just so that he can drag my ass half way across the world to distract all of us from a secondary plan he may be hatching here. Maybe all he wants is to finish what he started two years ago, but if he doesn't, and he has something going on here on the side, I need you two here to stop it." A harsh breath pushed from his lungs. Chin frowned.

"Steve?"

"I'm ending this," McGarrett muttered after a few moments of silence. "I'm not coming back until Wo Fat is in the ground. I'll dig his own grave and bury him myself if I have to, but my father is dead, my mother is running all over the world in hiding, my sister and I were uprooted from our lives, and now he's got Danny locked somewhere in a basement in the middle of Japan." He looked both Chin and Kono in the eye, deadly resolve in his eyes. "This ends. Now. This is the absolute last time that man interferes with my life and my family."

To say that it was uncharacteristic of Steve McGarrett to be so open about his inner thoughts was an understatement, and that was probably why neither Kono nor Chin argued the point with him any further. "At least let Max implant one of these in you before you go." Kono held up the GPS device. "It shouldn't take him long, and you should have more than enough time to get to the airport to catch the flight."

Chin nodded in agreement. "Yea, there's nothing saying that you'll be staying in Tokyo once you get there, Steve."

"Alright, hand it over. Call Max for me, let him know I'm on my way. Tell him I want him ready to put this thing in me the second I walk through the door."

"Got it. Be careful, Steve."

 _ **Hawaii Five-O – 11:30am, Hawaii Time. 7:30am the following day, Tokyo Time.**_

 _ **Day 1**_

" _Is it working?"_

Kono checked the tracking device and nodded. "Yep, like a charm. We have a schematic of Honolulu International up on the monitor right now – it shows you standing right in front of the gate."

" _Alright, look – Lou is on vacation, Abby's back in San Francisco on a consult – you guys stay put, okay? You stay put, but if you don't hear from me in 24 hours, call Joe White and give him the last known location that comes up on the GPS. He'll know what to do."_

"Will do, Boss." Kono paused for a moment before adding: "Bring our boy home."

" _That's the plan."_ Steve ended the call.


	2. Chapter 2

_**3:00pm, Hawaii Time. 11:00am the following day, Tokyo Time.**_

 _ **Day 1**_

The flight was blissfully quiet. A Marvel movie of some kind was playing on the screen at the front of the cabin, and Steve recognized it as one that he'd seen before. He declined the headphones but kept his eyes on the flick in front of him, zoning out every so often. His mind was currently like a pendulum; on one side was his plan of attack, his strategy, how he was doing to deal with Wo Fat and get himself and Danny out of this mess alive. On the other side was just Danny; the photo of Danny half sitting, half laying on what looked like a cold, concrete floor in what had to be a very small room. The sound of Danny's voice begging – no, Danny would never beg – more like demanding, _commanding_ Steve to not come after him reverberated in his mind, as did the dark promise Steve heard in Wo Fat's voice as the insinuation of harm to Danny would most definitely come to fruition if Steve didn't cooperate. He'd been through a torture session or two with Wo Fat; he knew better than anyone the damage the man could do.

And that was the rock that was sitting in the pit of Steve's very soul as he flew over the Pacific Ocean. Knowing that, at this very moment, Wo Fat was probably taking out any frustration or anger on, or just getting his jollies by, putting Danny through any number of interrogation techniques, and while Steve was sure – absolutely positive – that Danny could survive anything Wo Fat threw at him, he was also equally certain that the second Wo Fat decided that Danny was no longer a valued asset, that he would kill him. But, Steve reasoned to himself as he watched Hawkeye take out a squad of opponents on top of a roof, he knew that Wo Fat would at least keep Danny alive until he had Steve in his custody, not to mention that he was reasonably assured that if either Steve or Danny were to expire in the next two days, it would be Wo Fat pulling the trigger. One thing that Steve had learned about his nemesis – the man had no problem getting his own hands dirty, and lives were expendable once they were no longer needed.

He didn't know why he did it, but Steve pulled his phone out again, keyed in a few commands, and the photo of Danny appeared on his screen. For whatever reason, he found some odd kind of comfort in looking at it. Yes, there was fear in Danny's face, just a hint, but there was more anger than anything else, and Steve had never been more grateful for his Jersey partner's temper than he was in that moment. Anger was a driver for Danny; it had gotten him through more horrific situations than anything else. That righteous indignation, the pure, honorable fury that simmered just beneath the surface of the skin belonging to Daniel Williams was a weapon in and of itself. Steve needed to see that anger, needed to see that rage on his friend's face, so that he could have faith that once he got to where ever it was that he was going, that Danny would be alive, and strong, and as well as he could be under the circumstances. And if he wasn't, well, that would not bode well for Mr. Fat.

Idly, Steve's fingers drifted over the scar on his middle. It'd been almost a year since that day, when drug runners had flown alongside the little Cessna and littered the side of it with high caliber bullets, not to mention his own body. He'd almost died that day. He even remembered telling Danny as they were losing altitude that he was dying.

Of course, the stubborn being that was his partner had paid no attention to that. Steve remembered Danny ordering him not to die; it was almost as if Steve did not have Danny's permission to leave the plane of the living. It was the same tone of voice the detective had used when he'd commanded Steve to remain in Hawaii, and not come to Tokyo.

Ah, well. On following orders, one for two was a pretty good score for McGarrett. Steve looked at the phone again. In five hours, he'd be touching down in Japan. With any luck, he and Danny would be back in Hawaii before this time the next day, Wo Fat would be dead, and neither Steve, nor anyone else in his life, would ever have to worry about the man who had ruined so much for so many people ever again.

 _ **Hawaii Five-O - 3:30pm Hawaii Time. 11:00am the following day, Tokyo Time**_ _._

 _ **Day 1**_

"Mom?" Grace let the door shut behind her as she dropped her back pack off on the first available chair. "Hey, Mom – do you know why there's a car sitting outside?" She headed into the kitchen, still receiving no answer from Rachel, and made her way towards the fridge digging her phone out of her back pocket and hitting the text function. _'Hey Mom – I'm home. Where are you?'_

After grabbing a soda, she wandered into the living room and gently brushed aside a curtain, taking a peek at the road. The car, which looked suspiciously like an unmarked police unit, was still sitting out front, and Grace frowned. Her father hadn't said anything about any kind of threats or extra precautions that needed to be taken. She thought about texting her mother again, but since she hadn't yet received a response, she decided to try her father's phone. She listened as it rang, and rang, and rang some more, and finally, the voice mail picked up. "Hi Danno; I think there's an unmarked car sitting outside my house. They didn't really say anything to me when I got home, they just sat there. I guess I just want to make sure everything's okay." She bit her lip, continuing to watch the outdoors. "Love you, Danno." She hung up, stole a glance at the back pack that was still sitting on one of the chairs in the foyer, and took a sip of her soda.

As she'd gotten older, Grace had started to talk to her father about his work and what he did exactly in a little more depth and detail. Those conversations were not easy ones to have for either father or daughter, but they were necessary. One particular discussion had centered around gut instincts. Danny had told his daughter that if something felt wrong, it probably was, and that he'd solved an untold amount of cases simply by following his intuition and listening to his instincts instead of writing them off, especially when those instincts were telling him that something wasn't right.

Right about now, everything about her current setting told Grace that this was wrong; from the unmarked outside, to her mother not texting her back, to her father not picking up the phone, but perhaps most importantly to the fact that her dad hadn't mentioned anything about police protection, and neither had her mother. In the past, when her Danno had deemed protective custody necessary, the process and who from either Five-O or HPD she would be with was explained to her, by him, in as much detail as he could give her.

Making her decision, Grace grabbed her phone and dialed Steve's number. When he, too, didn't pick up, she felt her stomach contort in knots. Something _was_ wrong, she knew it. Grace slid her finger on the screen of her phone and pressed Kono's number, exhaling loudly and looking outside the window when the woman picked up.

"Kono, it's Grace – I think something's wrong. There's a car sitting outside my house and it looks like an unmarked car, and my mom's not home, and I called Danno and Uncle Steve and neither of them picked up-"

" _Okay, okay, okay, Grace, listen to me, I need you to slow down,"_ Kono soothed on the other end of the line. She darted into Chin's line of sight and waved at him to come out into the common area of the office, which he did quickly, spotting her urgency. _"Okay, tell me again, you said there's a strange car outside your house?"_

"Yea, and it looks like an unmarked cop car, like the kind the police drive when they don't want to drive their squad cars?" Grace took a breath, trying to do what Kono had told her. "It just – it feels wrong, Auntie Kono. Dad didn't say anything about police sitting outside the house and Mom didn't either. Can-"

" _Okay, Grace, I want you to stay inside, get away from the windows. Find the most interior room of your house that has a lock on it and go in there. Lock the door, and don't open it for anyone, okay? We're on the way. We'll call your mom en route, but you do not come out of that room until we get there and come in and get you."_

"Okay," Grace swallowed, already running up the stairs, "it's a room upstairs. I'll put my phone on vibrate."

" _Good. We're on the way, just sit tight and stay quiet, okay?"_

Grace nodded as she stepped into the desired room and shut the door behind her, locking it thoroughly. It was perfect – her mother's master suite had a bathroom attached to it, which also had a locked door. She hurried in, taking care to duck so that her head wouldn't show above the window sill, and climbed into the bath tub, hunkering down and folding her arms around her legs. Once she'd taken a precious few seconds to breathe and center herself, she glanced down at her phone again and realized that her mother still hadn't texted her back. ' _Mom – called Auntie Kono. There's a weird car sitting outside the house. Doesn't feel right. She and I think Uncle Chin are on the way_. She chewed her lip before adding: _Don't call me. I'll call when they're here.'_

It was perhaps the longest eight minutes of her life, and Grace was just beginning to calm fully when she heard the very familiar _bap bap bap_ of gunfire outside. Instinctively, her hands flew to the sides of her head and she scrunched down in the bathtub, squeezing her eyes shut. After what couldn't have been more than 30 seconds, the gunfire ceased. Grace remained how she was, taking short, shallow breaths, and she was so engrossed in what could be going on outside that she nearly dropped her phone when it vibrated against her hand. It was Kono.

' _Coming in the house now.'_

A loud bang (not a gunshot) came from downstairs, and Grace had never been happier to hear her name being called. She hoisted herself out of the bathtub, unlocked the door, and ran to the door of her mother's room, unlocking that too and calling downstairs. Within seconds, she saw Kono and Chin making their way up to her. Grace sagged against the door frame.

"Grace, are you alright?" Chin lowered his firearm and placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder as she nodded. She didn't have the stomach at the moment to ask exactly what went down outside, and she was grateful to see Kono come back from her sweep of the upstairs, reporting that everything was clear. "Were you able to get in touch with your mom?"

"No, and Danno hasn't called back either, and neither has Uncle Steve." She looked between the two Five-O officers. "Where's my dad? Is he okay? Is that why that car was out there?"

Chin pursed his lips together, giving Kono a look over the girl's head. "Let's try and find your mom first, okay? Then we can try and answer some of those questions." As they walked Grace downstairs, Kono took out her phone and dialed HPD. Chin leaned towards her and murmured quietly, "Joe White's the next call."

His cousin nodded.

 _ **Hawaii Five-O – 5:30pm Hawaii Time. 1:00pm the following day, Tokyo Time.**_

 _ **Day 1**_

Wo Fat had, for the most part, left Danny alone since the phone call was made to Steve. It was miraculous, really, considering the choice words and vivid descriptions of 'lacking manhood' Danny had hurled at the international criminal. But for a few 'wellness' visits, Danny had been sitting in the dark room, by himself, untouched and unbothered.

And then, a light came on. But it wasn't a light from a lamp or an over hanging bulb. This light was from the wall in front of him. When Danny's squinted eyes finally began to relax, he found that he was looking at a rather large television. So far, it showed an empty room, with a chair sitting in the middle, and Danny thought for a few seconds that it looked vaguely familiar, as if he'd been there before. It was when he saw someone being dragged into the view of the camera and made to sit in the chair that he understood what he was witnessing. He felt his heart skip a few beats and a sick, nauseous feeling settle deep within him as Steve's face came into view, and he realized suddenly what he was watching.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered angrily, trying to stand up, but not quite able to find his footing. Whether that was from his ribs, his head, or the sheer horror running through him he wasn't sure. As if the detective needed any confirmation as to what he was about to observe, a voice came over an intercom.

" _I imagine it would be rather unfair for my brother to enjoy an inflight movie while you sit here unentertained."_

It was a few minutes before the first blow was struck. Danny watched Steve's head crack off to the side, and that was when he discovered that the speaker system in the room he currently occupied was very good; also, very loud.

" _It is my hope that my conversation with Commander McGarrett goes far better than the last one did. That should be your hope as well."_ The threat – no, the promise: Wo Fat didn't make threats – was very clear.

On the screen, Wo Fat stood with a bucket filled with water by his feet, and one of his assistants stood behind the Navy Seal, a towel dangling in her hand. Steve had spoken only once to Danny about what he'd gone through while in Wo Fat's custody. Danny knew he'd been beaten, tortured both mentally and physically, tased, waterboarded, interrogated for hours straight at a time, and Danny had been furious then – quietly furious, but furious none the less. Seeing it though, hearing Steve sputter and choke, fight just to breathe… it brought thoughts and feelings to the surface that Danny would have rather left buried.

The volume only seemed to increase as Danny continued to watch, his temper rising dangerously, yet unable to escape. But it was when the scene changed, and Danny could see on the television that Steve was now hanging from the ceiling in chains from when he'd been taken to North Korea, that his blood truly chilled. Wo Fat was standing in front of the SEAL, a long, black rod in his hand. The first time Steve's excruciating, pain filled scream came through the speakers, Danny shoved his arm into the wall behind him, and bowed his head.

 _ **Hawaii Five-O – 8:10pm Hawaii Time. 3:30pm the following day, Tokyo Time.**_

 _ **Day 1**_

Tokyo was the jewel of Japan. It was one of the most technologically and architecturally advanced cities in the world, a beacon of art, culture, and sophistication. Any other time, Steve would have enjoyed his descent and looked out over the skyline from his seat, but not this time. As much as he enjoyed flying (and piloting, when he had the opportunity), it was all he could do not to ask one of the flight attendants if there was, by chance, a parachute on board so that he could disembark as soon as possible.

In reality, it was only ten minutes longer, but to Steve it felt like a life time. As he stepped off the boarding bridge and into the gate area, sharp, hazel eyes scanned the large interior. He saw what anyone would have seen – passengers coming and going, kids running around, parents running after them, people at the ticket counters – it was a completely normal scene.

And yet.

As Steve passed through security and into the public area of Haneda Airport, he spotted two men wearing dark clothing. One of them held a name sign; Steve's lips quirked just slightly as he approached.

"I'm McGarrett," he muttered, looking at both men closely. One of them nodded, smartly turned, and began heading towards the exit. The other simply looked at Steve and motioned for him to follow, which the latter did. It wasn't long before they were in a car, and of course a black, cloth bag had been thrown over McGarrett's head. Even though he couldn't see where they were going, he estimated that they had to have been in the car for at least an hour, probably longer. _10 hours_ , Steve thought to himself. _10 hours until Chin and Kono call Joe_.

It wasn't long after that thought that Steve felt the car come to a stop. He waited, patiently, as he heard two car doors open and close, and then his own passenger side door open. A hand grabbed his shoulder, and he was hauled out. Almost immediately, hands were against him, searching, and he felt his cell phone pulled from its pocket. _Another expenditure for a phone… Governor's gonna love that,_ Steve thought to himself as he was pushed forward roughly. Walking along, he heard more doors being opened, but these were the doors to a building, not a car; it seemed he'd reached his destination. Steve stayed alert, hoping to hear Danny yelling at the top of his lungs, a sure sign that he was alive and well, but so far, he heard nothing.

Another door opened, and Steve was pushed over the threshold and shoved forward. The door slammed, and Steve lifted his hands to pull the bag from his head. He was in a medium sized room, not white like the last one had been, and hopefully without the massive movie screen that his last accommodations from Wo Fat had included. The room was lit, but bare furnishing wise – probably a smart move on his host's part; Steve had an interesting knack for turning anything into a weapon. As if he needed another pleasant surprise, it appeared that said host wasn't going to keep him waiting long.

Wo Fat was as confident and in control as ever, and not for the first time, Steve found himself sincerely longing to wipe the smug look off the man's face. He regarded his captor quietly, eyeing him up and down, silently noticing all the little places he'd remembered Wo Fat storing various weapons before. It was a standoff of sorts, two alpha males circling, waiting for the other to make the first move.

Steve bit.

"I'm here. Where is he?"

"Mr. Williams is currently enjoying the movie I've provided for him in his room."

Steve's eyes narrowed only just. "Well I'm here now. You can let him go, and we can 'continue our conversation' – or however you put it so politely earlier." He wasn't surprised when the other man gave a subtle smirk and shook his head. "I'm surprised, Commander. As a former Navy SEAL, you should understand something about leverage. I have a great deal of it, not only in Mr. Williams, but in others who aren't even here."

"We have a great deal to discuss," Wo Fat continued. "The location of our mother-"

"She's not your mother."

"-and the location of my father."

Steve remained silent.

"Yes, I know he's alive now. It pays to have eyes and ears all over the world, in different governmental and non-governmental organizations." Wo Fat took a step forward, folding his hands behind his back and regarding Steve quietly. "Tell me where they are, and you and Mr. Williams will be on the next flight back to Honolulu."

"If you're so sure your father is alive, what do you need Doris for? Why don't you just go find him?"

"There is the little matter of Doris McGarrett killing my mother." Wo Fat eyed Steve carefully. "And you are now done stalling. Where are they?"

"Look," Steve's hand brushed across his mouth while his other settled on his hip. "I don't know where your father is, okay? And I don't know where my mother is. I haven't heard from her in months, and truthfully, I don't count on hearing from her anytime soon."

The silence grew, and a gulf of tension bred between them until Wo Fat broke it.

"I would choose your next steps very carefully, Commander McGarrett. I don't believe you, and in our prior dealings that would have been a problem for you, and you alone, but it is now a problem for Mr. Williams. It is up to you to decide just how big a problem for him it will be."

Steve watched as Wo Fat pulled away back towards the door, his glare promising murder. It didn't lessen when the fugitive glanced over his shoulder. "You can begin pondering the answer to that question now." And he was gone, leaving Steve to stand in the middle of the room.

He wasn't bored for long. About 15 minutes after he was left alone, Steve noticed an odd movement out of the corner of his eye, and as he turned towards the back of the room, he noticed that the wall was slowly but surely becoming transparent. He inched forward a few paces as he began to make out something in the adjoining room.

"Danny!"

His partner was hanging from the ceiling, hands shackled over head by metal cuffs. Danny's toes were barely scraping against the floor, the upper half of his body was bare, and dammit if Steve didn't pray to God that the man couldn't see him from the other side. But, as the saying went, humans made plans and had hopes, and God laughed.

"Steve, hi. Hi, nice of you stop by." Danny's tone belied his face, and Steve couldn't help the barely there quirk of the corner of his mouth. Danny was unharmed at least, but the way things were progressing, it didn't look as if that status was going to be sticking around for long, and that was when Steve knew he would have a very serious issue on his hands.

"Thought I told you not to come," Danny was saying, and Steve shifted back into the conversation, walking up to his side of the wall and placing a hand against it. "Yea, well, that never works out, buddy. Look, hang in there, alright?"

Silence, and then Danny looked up at him with an indignant expression.

"Did you really just- "

"You're gonna do this now?"

"-tell me to _hang in there?!_ "

"You're gonna criticize my way of trying to encourage you, huh? Give you some faith, some hope, that's what you're gonna do, right now, in this moment?" It was the light-hearted bickering that had always managed to soothe the both of them somehow, but Steve knew what Danny was about to endure, and the brief back and forth only succeeded in centering them for a few seconds before both men went quiet. Steve watched as Danny tried to pull his hands from the cuffs. The effort was valiant, but futile.

"Okay, Steve, I uh… I need you to do something for me."

"Anything."

"If this goes... you know, the wrong way, I need you to take care of Grace and Charlie."

Steve shook his head at the detective. "I'm going to get you out of here, Danny. We're both gonna be on a plane home soon. You're gonna see Grace and Charlie real soon."

"Steve, dammit, just – none of your sunny Hawaiian optimism right now, okay? I was in the room when Wo Fat called you, I know why he brought me here, I kn-I know what I'm in for." Danny's eyes bore into Steve's as he spoke. "You don't play his game, Steve; you hear me? You don't play it. Anything he wants to know, you tell him to go fuck himself."

"Danno-"

"Steven."

Steve blinked first. He hoped that wouldn't become a pattern through out their stay. As a SEAL, he'd been trained to endure pain - mental, physical, and emotional. Compartmentalize, breathe through the agony, block out threats, words, statements – any act directly given to his person that could compromise him. Unfortunately, so far as he knew, no military on Earth had mastered the art of how to hold it together while a person's best friend, partner, and possibly something more was being subjected to 'enhanced interrogation techniques' or whatever the politically correct term was that was being used these days.

The wait was both agonizing and welcome for both men. Danny wasn't able to do much except hang in the air, prone, and Steve was pacing his cage like a wild animal, for which Danny was very grateful; a pacing SEAL was a thinking SEAL after all.

They both froze when they heard the door to Danny's room open. Steve spared one last glance Danny's way, hoping that his face conveyed more assuredness than fear, but he wouldn't swear that it did in court. However, Danny's face was the very picture of defiance, and Steve felt a kind of pride watching his partner stare down Wo Fat. The man carried nothing with him, and Steve knew that meant he was going to start off slow. Slow, in this case, meant a physical beating. Wo Fat would upgrade when he felt the need; Steve knew that from experience.

Neither of the Five-O officers said anything to their captor, not when he looked at them each directly, and not when he circled Danny like a predator stalking his prey. Steve did, however, pin the criminal with a warning look. Of course, it had no effect. Wo Fat was in control, he knew it, and the rhetorical question he put to his guests only served to prove it.

"Shall we begin?"


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hawaii Five-O - 8:30pm Hawaii Time. 4:00pm the following day, Tokyo Time**_ _._

 _ **Day 1**_

Once Kono and Chin had located Rachel, they had personally reunited Grace with her, and then promptly informed her that she and her two children were officially in protective custody. While Kono explained most of what they knew so far to Rachel, Chin set Grace and Charlie up in Danny's office, called down to HPD for some pizza and sodas, and made sure they were tucked in before joining his cousin.

"So, you're saying that Wo Fat sent his agents to our house so that he could use us as leverage?"

"Yea, that's what we're thinking." Kono winced, watching as Danny's ex processed the info. "We're running background on the two men we shot right now – prints, photo recognition, we've contacted TSA to see when they may have arrived, where they flew in from, and under what identities. We should have something soon. We also have a man by the name of Joe White helping us. He's an ex-Navy SEAL that trained Steve and still has a lot of contacts." She glanced up as Chin entered her office. "The kids are settled in, they have pizza and drinks. Grace has been here often enough and she said she knew where the bathrooms are if Charlie needs to go." Chin smiled tightly at Rachel.

"Thank you, both of you, so much. I-" Rachel shook her head, biting her lower lip. "I can't believe any of this. But I suppose what I can't believe the most is my phone dropping between my drivers' seat and car door. God, if Grace hadn't been able to get in touch with you…"

"But she did," Kono soothed, "and you should know how amazing she was, Rachel. She listened to her instincts, she trusted herself when she felt something was wrong, and when she called us, she gave us all the information she had calmly and directly, and then she picked the best place in the house to hide until we were able to get there." She smiled at the woman in front of her. "You and Danny did a good job; you should be proud."

"Oh, that's all Danny." Rachel gave a nervous laugh. "As much as we've tried to shield her from his work… I knew that…" she sighed. "Well." There was a long, awkward stretch of quiet before Rachel spoke again. "You said that Steve was with Danny?"

"We think so. Before he left for Tokyo, our Medical Examiner implanted a GPS chip in Steve's body. Last we checked, Steve was stationary about an hour or so outside of Tokyo." Chin beckoned both women to follow him into the bullpen and brought the tracking map up on the screen. "He hasn't moved from that area in just over five hours now."

"And you think Danny's with him?"

"We think it's a very strong possibility, yea." She watched Rachel take another calming breath as she folded her arms tightly across her chest again. "And you said that Wo Fat took Danny to lure Steve to Tokyo." She looked between the two cops. "Why?"

Kono bit her lip, and a silent questioning gaze passed between herself and Chin. Rachel didn't miss it. "Kono, Chin, please – my daughter was terrorized this afternoon… please tell me what's going on."

It was Chin who cracked first. "We'll tell you as much as we can, safely, but… Rachel, some of the stuff that Danny and Steve have gotten into over the years is highly classified." At the woman's nod, Chin continued. "Wo Fat and Steve have had dealings over the past seven years; there are things that Steve may or may not know that Wo Fat desperately wants information about."

"What does he know?"

"I can't tell you that." The apology was crystal clear in Chin's voice. "Suffice to say that it's gotten very personal between the two of them. The last time we'd heard from Wo Fat was two years ago or so. He'd taken Steve hostage, tortured him pretty badly for what it was he was after, but he didn't get anything."

"It's not the first time Wo Fat had captured Steve either," Kono took over for Chin as she leaned against the flat screen console. "There had been at least one other time before where it was a similar situation. We had to go to North Korea to get him out."

"And when you say 'we'-"

"We mean Danny too. Rachel…." God, how did Kono explain this without truly terrifying the woman? "Wo Fat is someone who does his homework. He has an eye and an ear anywhere he thinks it's necessary for him to have one - or both. Five-O has had more than our fair share of run ins with him, and it's safe to say that he's done his research on all of us. It's no accident that he took Danny; he's Steve's partner, his best friend, he probably even knows that Danny was on both rescue missions when he took Steve captive…" She allowed Rachel to absorb that much before Chin took over.

"If Wo Fat wants to know something that Steve knows, or that he thinks Steve knows, he's not going to hedge; he's going to use every single weapon in his arsenal to get that information. If that means using Danny against Steve in some way or using you and Grace and Charlie to get what he's after… that's what he's going to do."

All things considered, the British woman digested the short story very well, at least outwardly. But when she spoke, Kono and Chin had to lean forward to make out the words her tight, strained voice was attempting to make. "Will he make it home?"

This was the question that every person who had ever had a loved one taken hostage asked, and neither Kono nor Chin had ever found it to get easier to answer. But that didn't mean that they didn't try. Kono folded the woman into a hug, rocking her gently and speaking to her in hushed tones.

"Look… Steve's gotten out of situations like this before. He went over there without batting an eye, with no hesitation, to bring Danny home and that's what he's going to do, okay? I know Steve, so do you; he's not going to leave Tokyo without Danny."

The door to HQ opened and Chin looked up to see Duke entering. "We have the safe house ready for them, whenever they're ready to go."

"Alright, thanks Duke." After giving Rachel a few more moments to compose herself, Chin took a breath.

"Ready?"

 _ **Hawaii Five-O - 10:30pm Hawaii Time. 6:00pm the following day, Tokyo Time**_ _._

 _ **Day 1**_

If Danny thought he'd had bruised ribs before, he was sure of their condition now. He imagined he must have looked rather like a slab of meat hanging from a frozen locker, and instead of being prepared for shipping, he was being prepared for his next interrogation. Wo Fat had strung him up as if he were a punching bag, and damn if he didn't treat Danny just like one. His solar plexus was now a field of bruises, some grey in color, others an angry red, particularly around the scar where he'd had half of his liver removed, and it would have been nice if the pain had simply stopped there, but Wo Fat was nothing if not thorough. Danny was sure that his back was just as patchy with contusions as his front, specifically around his lower back and kidneys. It was a wonder he hadn't vomited yet, truly, because his host hadn't only stuck to his hands; he'd used his legs to deliver some rather vicious kicks, and now, Danny could see that Wo Fat had graduated to what appeared to be a kendo stick.

Just peachy.

But aside from the beating he'd taken over the better part of two hours, what had to tear at the detective's insides the most was the fact that Steve was being forced to watch and hear every moment of his torture, and Danny knew it was only going to get worse from here. He and Steve had been able to have a conversation before Wo Fat had joined him, so he knew that every time he uttered a grunt of pain or attempted to breathe or hacked out painful coughs, there was no way Steve could block it out. The SEAL was certainly not going to turn away; no, he was going to force himself to watch what Danny was going through, because Danny knew his partner was blaming himself for Danny being taken in the first place. It was his friend's own personal version of penance.

It seemed Wo Fatwas in the mood for a short break, and that was just fine by Danny. The downside was that Wo Fat was using his momentary cessation of doling out beatings to taunt Steve.

"Your father died because of your incompetence," Danny heard the man utter. He glanced up at Steve, blinking away the sweat from his eyes and taking deep breaths. "Your sister barely has a life of her own, going from job to job all while being a single mother – oh yes, I've been keeping track of her," Wo Fat nodded, watching Steve carefully when he saw the cop's reaction to his mentioning of Mary. McGarrett was practically digging his fingers into the clear wall, just begging for one chance to get at the man who was baiting him. "Your actions have caused our mother's once safe and secure code name and location to be compromised." He wandered lazily away from the wall, back towards Danny, and stuck the butt of the kendo stick against the blonde's chin, forcing it up. "How many times have your decisions put your own team in danger?"

"How much more are you going to put everyone through before you give me what I want?"

"I can't give you what I don't have," Steve glared at him. "I don't know where Doris is. I don't know where your father is, okay? That's not information that just gets handed out to cops in Hawaii!"

"You discovered where she was before. Do you truly expect me to believe that you simply stopped looking after the last time you saw her?" Wo Fat quirked a brow at him in question before dropping the kendo stick and suddenly cracking it into Danny's side, a forced and clearly pained sputtering grunt being pulled from him. Oh yea; that hurt. "You've proven time and time again you're not just a cop; you're former Naval Intelligence, a former Navy SEAL. You and I both know you still have connections in your Department of Defense, in your military, in your FBI, and in your CIA that would be able to provide you with that information – you truly expect me to believe that you haven't tried to find Doris McGarrett since Morocco?"

Ah, fuck.

Both Steve and Danny had the same reaction; they froze. Just for a moment, only a split second, but Wo Fat caught it, and he smiled enough for a chill to make its way down Steve's back. "How did you think I knew that my father was alive?"

Steve pushed away from the glass and stalked further back into his own room, his hands tugging at his hair as he tried to think, but when he heard the crack of the kendo stick again and an actual yelp from Danny, he pivoted immediately and marched back up to the partition, practically barreling right into it. "Okay. Alright, listen to me – yes, I was in Morocco, I released my mother, I released your father, I helped them escape. Yes, I did do those things, but _I don't know where they went after that. That is the truth."_

Steve wasn't sure if it was the expression on the Asian man's face, if it was the tone in his voice, or if it was the fact that the response he gave was the very same one he'd uttered the last time Steve told him what the truth was. Whatever it was, his heart jumped into his throat, and a little more hope for their situation faded away.

"That may be so; but I need to be convinced."

As Wo Fat slithered back towards Danny, Steve pounded his fists on the glass, shouting inane threats the villain's way. In an attempt to protect himself, Danny actually managed to use what power he had to lift his bent legs in an effort to deflect the coming blow.

The howl that resulted as Wo Fat struck the cop's bad knee was something Steve McGarrett would never be able to remove from his memory.

 _ **Hawaii Five-O - 12:30am Hawaii Time. 8:00pm the same day, Tokyo Time.**_

 _ **Day 2**_

Chin and Kono may have moved Rachel, Grace, and Charlie to the safe house, but that didn't necessarily mean that everyone was asleep. In fact, out of the five of them, the only one who had gone to bed was Danny's son. The boy was adorably sacked out in one of the bed rooms, his favorite stuffed animal wrapped securely in his grip, which had been retrieved for him by Kono after Rachel had given the woman the keys to her home in order to deliver some creature comforts to her children. "If we don't know how long we'll be staying, I want them to have some things that are familiar, especially Charlie."

Kono hadn't argued with her, and in fact, readily agreed.

Now, she, Chin, Rachel, and Grace were sitting in the kitchen. While the three adults talked, Grace simply remained quite silent, pushing her mug of hot chocolate about the table. It had gone luke warm about 15 minutes previous, but she hadn't seemed to notice. Chin couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl; she was nearing 15 and she'd experienced more traumas than most people three times her age in a single life time. He didn't miss Rachel giving her daughter furtive, worried glances, but she seemed to be content with only doing that for the time being.

At least until Grace got up from the table and headed for the front door; then Rachel stood. "Grace?"

"I'll get her," Chin moved to follow her, encouraging Rachel to stay put. They already had one protectee out the door. They most certainly did not need another.

Much to Chin's relief, Grace hadn't gone far. He could see from the porch that she'd chosen a large tree to sit under, and he would have missed her if not for her bright pink night shirt. Pausing by the door, Chin grabbed his jacket and tossed it over his shoulder as he strolled out to join the girl.

"It's a little chilly out; thought you might want this," Chin carefully dropped the jacket over her shoulders and slid it down her arms. Grace moved enough for the clothing to slide down her back and she shrugged into cloth covering, pulling the neck line tight against her throat. "Thanks," she muttered quietly. Chin offered her a small smile. "You're welcome."

For a long time, the only sounds were the frogs, the occasional owl, and the movement of feet as HPD officers patrolled the yard and the surrounding perimeter. When Grace chose to speak, Chin had to ask her to repeat herself.

"It feels wrong."

Well. Chin couldn't argue with that.

"It feels like…like this time Danno might not really come home."

If that statement didn't break Chin's heart, he doubted that anything ever could. "Look, I know it's really hard right now, Grace, but you can't think like that, alright? Your dad is one of the strongest, most stubborn men I know – and he's from Jersey, that gives him bonus tough points, right?" He nudged the girl gently, trying anything, even cheesy, awful jokes, to make her smile. When that didn't exactly make the corners of her mouth turn up, Chin tried a different approach.

"Look, what do we know right at this moment?"

"That Danno was taken by someone who hates Uncle Steve."

Chin nodded and prodded a bit more. "Good. What else do we know?"

"That… that Uncle Steve went to get Danno –" Grace paused, as if a light bulb had just come on. "Uncle Steve knows where my dad is?"

Chin nodded. "That's right. Before Steve left, we implanted a very special computer chip in his body – surgically. It's like a mini GPS."

"So that means you know where Uncle Steve is?" Hope sprung eternal Grace's eyes, and Chin was once again reminded of why Danny lost his mind anytime something even remotely unsettling happened near his daughter. "That's right. You see, the man that you mentioned earlier has a lot of history with Steve. That's why we think he took your dad; to make Steve come to him. So where ever Steve is-"

"Danno would be too!"

Chin nodded. "It isn't a 100% guarantee, but it's highly likely that where ever Steve is, your dad is with him." He watched as Grace slowly, quietly digested that information. "It just… it feels different this time – like things won't be the same when he comes home."

"You're not wrong to think that, Grace – that's very possible. Remember a few months back when those guys crashed your winter formal?"

She nodded.

"Are you the same person you were before that?"

"No."

"But are you okay? Are you healthy? Happy?"

"I'm – I mean, yea… not so much right now, but… yea."

"That's probably how it will be for Danny when he gets back. He'll need you – you and your brother. You focus on how you can be there for your dad when he comes home. Let the rest of us and Steve worry about getting him here; deal?"

Finally, a smile, tiny as it was, appeared on the girl's face and she nodded. "Okay."

"Okay." Chin stood up. "Now, how about we head back inside, maybe see if you can eat something and then catch some sleep?" Before Grace answered though, movement from the sidewalk distracted him and Chin glanced up to see Joe White making his way up towards the house. He waved the man over to where he and Grace stood and greeted him with a firm hand shake.

"Grace, nice to see you again." Joe held out his hand for the girl to take, which she did. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay. Better now." She looked up at Chin, and Joe felt a grin tug at his mouth. "We'll have your dad back before you know it." He motioned up the walk way. "Let's get inside, hm? We can all have a talk."

Within five minutes, the entire group was gathered around the table in the kitchen and every eye was on Joe. "I've been able to reach a couple of my contacts at Atsugi Naval base, about two hours or so south west of Tokyo. I gave them the coordinates that you were able to supply me from the tracker you have on Steve. Turns out that's the location of a large set of companies, chemical plants, warehouses, etcetera just off the Tokyo Bay in Kawasaki. They've contacted the Japanese intelligence service, Naicho, as well as another agency that we would consider to be the SWAT division of the Tokyo police department – don't worry," he placated both Kono and Chin, seeing the worried looks on their faces. "My contacts have very good relations with their people in Japan. They're only communicating with those they absolutely trust."

Kono's face remained tight. "How can we be sure that remnants of the Yakuza won't pick up on the chatter? They may not always see eye to eye with Wo Fat, but we've dealt them some pretty devesting blows…" She took care to remember that Rachel and Grace were in the room and didn't finish the sentence. 

"You want them to pause in their operation prep?" Joe raised a brow at her. Kono shook her head. "It's a risk we have to take. The longer Steve and Danny stay in Wo Fat's custody, the more difficult it will be to extract them safely." Again, for the benefit of the family in the room, Joe watched his words for Grace's sake but Kono and Chin understood him perfectly: They either go in and get their friends now, or they'd be coming home in body bags.

"I'll be speaking to them via secure satellite down at Hickam about an hour from now. At that point, I'll need you to confirm Steve's location one final time. Once I give Atsugi's team the coordinates, they will immediately deploy to the operation site. All goes well, we'll see our boys home within 12 hours."

"You make it all sound so easy," Rachel murmured, quietly overwhelmed. "Mr. White- "

"Joe."

She nodded. "Joe… As you might imagine, I am not at all familiar with the tactical or military side of things – but this man who has taken Danny, he doesn't sound as though he is the type of person to simply stay in one place and wait for a rescue team to come barreling in. Danny never talked about Wo Fat to me very much, only very small mentions, but I remember what little he did tell me from the last time Wo Fat took Steve. He had men there ready and waiting." She took a breath, realizing that she was rambling, and if it put off Joe any, he didn't show it in the least. "I suppose what I'm asking is – these people who are going in to bring Steve and Danny home; do they know the person they're dealing with? What to expect?"

"They most certainly do. The people who are going to be dropping in on Wo Fat are some of the best trained, top notch military bodies of any country on Earth. These are men and women who have fought in some of the most treacherous combat theatres the world has had to offer." Joe offered her an encouraging smile. "Wo Fat won't know what hit him."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Hawaii Five-O - 1:30am Hawaii Time. 9:00pm the same day, Tokyo Time.**_

 _ **Day 2**_

It was strange to feel pride and horror simultaneously, but Steve was a living, breathing case of it as sure as he stood pressed against the clear wall, watching Wo Fat poke at Danny with a vicious cattle prod. Steve knew very well how painful being on the other end of the voltage was; it was nothing short of excruciating. So, the fact that Danny wasn't screaming, wasn't begging Wo Fat to stop, swelled Steve with a sense of adulation for his partner. But with every cracking flash of light against Danny's skin, it made him more desperate to find a way out, and Steve was inching ever closer to outright lying to Wo Fat just to get him to give Danny a break. Of course, once Wo Fat figured out the fib, Steve knew the man would punish Danny tenfold.

"What will it take, Steve?" Wo Fat let his arm fall, giving Danny a badly needed break as the cop panted, grunting harshly. Steve only glared between the two men. "Even if you don't know where she is, you and I both know that you have the connections to find out. So why don't you?" He danced the end of the cattle prod along Danny's stomach and tilted his head slightly, just enough to watch Steve's gaze flicker between him and his friend, equal parts hatred, worry, and desperation. The latter emotion was winning out, and Steve knew it. Wo Fat inched the prod below Danny's waist.

"Listen, listen to me, okay? _Hey!_ " Steve got Wo Fat's attention, banging his fists on the wall. Benevolently, or at least as benevolently as the criminal could, he glanced up at Steve, a bored look on his face while the prod hovered dangerously close to Danny's thigh.

His clothed thigh.

"Even if I knew someone that had the information you're looking for, all of those people - _all of them_ \- are dark. They're quiet, you understand? They're out of reach! I can't-"

A sickening sizzle of electricity connecting with fabric and skin filled both rooms, and this time, valiantly as he tried, a pained yelp escaped Danny as he tried to kick Wo Fat away, but the prod was pushed just that much more into already charred skin. When it finally fell away, Danny's leg was actually twitching, and Steve could hear wheezing coming from the blonde.

He'd never felt more murderous in his life.

"Why don't you two talk it over. I'll be back." And their tormentor was gone.

"Danny – Danny, come on, deep breaths, breathe through it, Danno." Steve surprisingly found himself thanking God that he could be here for Danny in this moment, to coach him through the brutality he'd endured the last few hours. Anyone who had ever suffered torture would have testified to wanting someone with them to guide them, steel their souls, give them hope. He watched, worried, as Danny's leg continued to spasm. Wo Fat had held the cattle prod there for quite a bit of time - how the clothing hadn't managed to catch fire, Steve would never know but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, and while he wouldn't tell Danny until they were safe, Steve was certain that Danny would be dealing with permanent nerve damage. He zoned out, cataloguing all the various injuries Danny had suffered so far.

Gradually, Danny calmed, his breathing evened out, and he looked across the room at Steve. "No," he simply said.

"Danny-"

"I said no, Steve."

A frustrated growl erupted from the man on the other side of the wall, and Danny watched as the Navy SEAL, the Commander, Mr. In-Control-of-Any-and-Every Situation submitted his forehead to the partition. "He'll kill you, Danny."

"Yea, and if he finds your mom, then what? You think he's gonna have a tea party with her or something? Have a nice conversation over some crumpets?"

Steve pushed away from the wall, trailing his fingers roughly through his hair and down his neck. "She was CIA for years, she's spent the last 20 years globetrotting – she can handle him." Steady, hazel eyes met skeptical blue ones. Danny snorted derisively.

"She can handle him; like she handled him by letting him get away four years ago? She couldn't kill him then, what makes you think she could - _would_ \- do it now? You said it yourself: she raised him as her own son for a long time, Steve. If he found her, do you really think she'd be able to do it?" Danny waited for the answer, and it came in the form of a surrendered expression. He nodded.

"So, I'm making the choice for both of us. You've lost one parent because of him. You're not losing another, okay? Not because of me."

"Yea, and what about your parents, huh? They've already lost one son! What about Grace? What about Charlie? What about their dad? They still need you, Danny! _I_ need you!" Steve paced back towards the wall, leaning against with his hands. Dammit, if he could just break through the barrier, get to Danny, he could get them out of here, he _knew_ he could. It worried him how calm Danny was being right now. Their standard dynamic was Steve attempting to sooth a nervous and sometimes anxiety ridden Danny by prompting field line ups of the man's favorite baseball and football teams, but he hadn't had to do that just yet, and that scared Steve more than he cared to admit.

"He's going to kill me either way, babe – both of us, probably. You and I both know he's not letting either of us leave here alive. I know you don't know where they are; I know that, but do you really think he cares? So what, you have connections, you know people – Hell, I probably know one or two myself that you could call to get him what he wants. But I am not, I repeat - _not_ \- going to have your mother's murder on my conscience, okay? And you know that's exactly what will happen. I would never, and _will never_ , ask you for my life over hers. I will not make you make that choice. Ever." Danny looked up, flexed his arms a little bit as he tried to get the feeling back in them. Hanging from the ceiling had rendered them practically useless and numb. "Borrowed time," he muttered. "It was always borrowed time."

 _ **Hawaii Five-O - 1:45am Hawaii Time. 9:15pm the same day, Tokyo Time.**_

 _ **Day 2**_

Joe may have been retired for a few years, but it seemed like he never could get very far away from Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Between favors, the occasional training seminar that he was asked back to conduct, and the craziness that Five-O got him involved with, Joe wondered if he shouldn't just petition Navy leadership for his position back.

As he slid out of his SUV and headed across the parking lot to one of the many buildings that civilians weren't shown on the regular tours, Joe dug out his phone and punched Kono's name in the contacts. Two rings later, and she picked up.

"He's still there," Kono confirmed. "How long do you think it will be before we hear anything?"

"With things like this, that's difficult to say, and this isn't a secure line," Joe paused just before heading into the building. "Once I relay the location, which will be in about five minutes, start the clock. I'll call once I know something." Punching the 'end call' button without waiting for a response, Joe headed inside and navigated his way through the labyrinth of hallways and stairs before arriving in a room that was currently a flurry of activity.

"Commander Austin," Joe lifted a hand to shake, ignoring for the moment the hustle and bustle that accompanied the atmosphere right before an operation began. "We all set to get our boys back?"

"We're ready on our end, Sir – just waiting for the final go ahead from Atsugi. We'll be relaying their feed through to our end to keep an eye on what's going on."

"Tell Atsugi Command that the location of the GPS marker has been confirmed."

"Yes, Sir." Commander Austin went to do just that, and he was back standing next to Joe relatively quickly after doing so. "It's all theirs. Our people have coordinated with Japanese intelligence. They've brought in a few other folks from agencies that they trust. Officially, this is Japan's operation since the target location is on their soil – we're just along for the ride to get our boys back while the Japanese apprehend Wo Fat."

"And unofficially?" Joe inquired.

"Joint operation to extract Commander McGarrett and Detective Williams. Wo Fat is deemed shoot to kill."

Before he could answer, Joe was interrupted by a young Navy man. "Sirs, excuse me; we're go."

Both men nodded, and Joe folded his arms over his chest as the video feed began rolling in. U.S. Navy, Naicho, and what Joe assumed were members of other agencies appeared on the screens, already enroute to the target coordinates. As he'd done so many times, the retired Lt. Commander got comfortable; the wait was always the hardest part.

 _ **Hawaii Five-O - 2:30am Hawaii Time. 10:00pm the same day, Tokyo Time.**_

 _ **Day 2**_

It'd been ten minutes since Wo Fat had returned to Danny, but instead of bringing a new method of interrogation with him – Steve quietly thanked God that the waterboarding hadn't started yet – he'd only brought a cell phone.

Danny's cell phone, to be exact. For those ten minutes, he paced back and forth in front of Danny, occasionally listening to something playing on the mobile. It wasn't on speaker, so neither Danny or Steve could hear what it was. Every so often, Wo Fat would swipe his thumb across the screen, accessing files, texts, photos – Danny wasn't sure. The only thing that he was sure of in that moment was that his panic level was beginning to rise once again.

Finally, Wo Fat pressed a button on the side of the phone a few times, swiped his fingers across the screen once more, and held the phone up at an equal distance between his two captives. His eyes were glued to Danny as a voice began to play.

" _Hi Danno; I think there's an unmarked car sitting outside my house. They didn't really say anything to me when I got home, they just sat there. I guess I just want to make sure everything's okay. Love you, Danno."_

It didn't take long at all for the defiance Danny had been showing for most of his stay to turn into desperation and out right, unguarded fear.

"You listen to me, you son of a bitch – if anything happens to my daughter, if your little bastard goons have touched my kids, I swear to God –"

"What?" Wo Fat smirked, looking at him like a man who knew he was about to get what he wanted, not caring in the least that Danny was in the beginning stages of an acute anxiety attack. He meandered over to Steve, holding the phone up to the screen which showed the timestamp of when Grace had called, a picture of her face next to the notification.

In that second, the power dynamic between Danny and Steve shifted. The latter no longer cared about honoring his partner's wishes, no longer cared about keeping silent about his mother's possible where abouts, or that of Wo Fat's father, or about anyone else who might know where they were. Steve would not – would never – put Grace's life in danger, or Charlie's for that matter, for any reason, and he wasn't about to have Wo Fat force Danny to beg him for his children's lives. There was a reason Wo Fat had chosen that moment to reveal the voice mail, and Steve was almost certain it was because he and Danny had tested the criminal's patience as much as they would be allowed.

"Give me my phone," Steve relented quietly, looking Wo Fat in the eye. "I'll make the call." The knowledge that Wo Fat would probably kill both him and Danny as soon as he had the information he needed never gave Steve any pause. He would not risk Grace and Charlie. If Wo Fat had them, if he didn't have them – it didn't matter to Steve anymore. He had to operate under the assumption that both children were, at the very least, under the sadistic bastards 'supervision'.

"I thought you might." Steve watched as Wo Fat reached into his other pocket and dragged out another cell; Steve's mobile. "Walk towards the door," the man instructed as he stepped back and put both phones in one hand while his right hand reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out one of his guns. Steve knew there was likely another one on him; there always was. "It will open. You will walk to your left and stand outside. The door to this room will open. You will walk in. The door will close. Please understand that if you take more than five seconds to reach the entrance to this room, I will shoot Detective Williams." Wo Fat strolled casually over to a control panel next to the door of Danny's room and pressed two buttons, and Steve heard the release of gears as his door slid open, revealing a grey, industrially lit hallway. He wasted no time, quickly moving from his room out into the hallway and appearing in the threshold of Danny's prison within the allotted timeframe. His hands were up as he stepped cautiously into the cell, eyes raking over Danny, taking stock of his current condition as best he could, and God, his heart broke. It was the first time Steve had seen Danny look defeated, apologetic even, as their eyes met. "Don't, Danny," Steve murmured calmly, saying everything that needed to be said in two words: _This is not your fault; I don't expect you to risk your children for my mother; I wouldn't risk Grace and Charlie for her; I love your kids; I love you._

Steve resolved to himself that he was going to say those last two phrases whenever he could, as often as he could, if they ever got out of here.

Steve watched quietly as Wo Fat fished the phone out of his pocket. "Who are we calling?"

"Joe White," Steve muttered. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Danny's head drop.

Wo Fat dialed the number, toggled the speaker function, and held it up at chest level between him and the SEAL as the dial tone began to ring. Joe picked up on the second queue.

" _Hey champ, how's the weather?"_

Steve couldn't have been more grateful for that greeting, because it meant that Chin and Kono had called Joe and that his former commanding officer knew fully what was going on. Inwardly, he was cheering. On the outside however, he remained as stoic and resigned as he'd been when he'd entered the room. Joe knew the call was being monitored, and in turn, Steve was ready to listen for those coded messages they'd used so often throughout their lives.

"Uh, the weather's… weather's not so good, Joe, listen; Wo Fat's got both me and Danny here, and we have reason to believe that he has people on Grace and Charlie." Steve took a breath. "Joe, if you know where my mother or Wo Fat's father is, I need you to tell me, okay? And if you don't know where they are, I need you to reach out to your contacts and find them, alright? Otherwise, Grace and Charlie's lives are in danger." There was a pause on the other end of the line, longer than Steve would have liked. "Joe?"

" _Alright, Steve. Give me… 15 minutes, alright? You should hear something by then. Everything's 10-4, Steve. Everything will be fine, just wait for my word."_ The call was dropped and Wo Fat stepped back, a smirk lining his face. Steve had never wanted to snap someone's neck so badly in his life. "15 minutes, gentlemen. That's either how long you have to live, or how long you have to wait until you're released." He walked through the door and shut it, the lock clicking into place loudly in the small room.

"Joe knew," Steve muttered quietly, heading over to Danny and examining him quickly. He took care to press gently against his partner's chest and backed off when the man let out an uncomfortable moan of pain when Steve pushed particularly hard against a bruised, and likely cracked, rib. "15 minutes," he whispered through barely moving lips as he slid his fingers over some of Danny's bruises, inspecting the cattle prod wounds specifically. "15 minutes isn't near enough time for him to find out that information. He knows it, he knows I know it." Steve stood up, meeting Danny's gaze. "He said 'everything's 10-4'. Danny, that means _everything_ is okay – they're sending a rescue, Grace and Charlie are okay, that's what that means. In fact, I think Joe even gave us a time stamp." And oh God, it looked like Danny wanted to believe him so badly.

"How do you know?"

"We developed coded messages, conversations that we could have when one or both of us were under duress; we all did in SEAL's, that's where it came from. That's why he answered the phone calling me champ, talking about the weather – he already knew we were in trouble. That means Chin and Kono contacted him. That's why I made sure to tell him about Grace and Charlie, Danno." Steve gently patted his hand against his friend's cheek, and he didn't miss the way Danny leaned into it for just a split second, and Steve didn't even think about letting it linger there just a moment longer either. In 15 minutes, they were either going to be rescued, or they were going to die; that very finite view of their future put things in quite a different perspective.

Steve lifted his hands to Danny's arms, which had to have gone numb by now from the hours of hanging he'd endured and squeezed gently from the blonde's shoulder to as high near his wrist as he could reach, trying to get the blood flowing again. "You know what?" He continued to speak in whispers.

Danny blinked tired eyes at him. "What?"

"We get out of here? I'm taking you on a date."

Generally, a man admitting to another man that he wanted to take said other man out on a date would have caused some tension to build, but the opposite was true in this case. In fact, it seemed as though nothing but relief flooded the space between Steve and Danny, and the detective's eyes actually crinkled with a bit of humor for the first time since he'd been captured. "Wow, babe; a date?"

Steve nodded, continuing his ministrations on Danny's arms.

"You know that means you have to bring your wallet too, right? And it has to have money in it, you have to drive your own car-"

"Yes to the wallet, yes to the money, no to the car. I'm driving the Camaro."

"Well, two out of three ain't bad."

 _ **Hawaii Five-O - 2:42am Hawaii Time. 10:12pm the same day, Tokyo Time.**_

 _ **Day 2**_

" _In position. Awaiting go order."_

" _The order is given."_

" _The order is given. Go, go, go!"_

It was operational chatter that Joe was so used to by now, but it was especially important that he hear it now. Once the go was given, he fished in his pocket for his cell and dialed Steve back, all the while watching the screen in front of him, tinted green due to the night vision. Timing was everything now, and he hoped that Wo Fat was with Steve at that moment, otherwise the ensuing conversation was going to be rather awkward.

 _ **Hawaii Five-O - 2:43am Hawaii Time. 10:13pm the same day, Tokyo Time.**_

 _ **Day 2**_

Wo Fat had returned to the room a few minutes prior to the 15 minute marker being up. There were no taunts, no threats, no witty back and forth. Steve placed himself directly between Danny and Wo Fat, and their captor didn't really seem to care, especially once Steve's cell phone began to ring. Wo Fat dug it out of his pocket and held it up, motioning McGarrett forward and accepting the call with one hand while the other confidently leveled one of his pistols right at Steve's chest.

"Joe."

" _Howzit, champ?"_

"Good so far, Joe. How's it coming on that info?"

" _Sending it to your phone as we speak; ten seconds max."_

It wasn't five seconds before Steve heard a sound that was distinctly not the alert of a message coming through the phone, and thankfully Wo Fat had also recognized that the noise was foreign to his environment. His head jolted upwards, eyes slid to look just over his shoulder as he attempted to identify just what it was that he'd heard.

It was all Steve needed to grab his gun arm at the bicep and wrist, twisting it hard and painfully enough to force the weapon to drop from his fingers. At the same time, Steve swung his leg behind his opponent's own dominant leg and he pushed the arm he still held back, forcing Wo Fat to the ground and instantly moving to straddle him. But Wo Fat was a master martial artist, and Steve very suddenly felt the sharp pain of an elbow crashing into his cheek, knocking him off balance and dazing him for a split second. Wo Fat took that opportunity to use his upper body strength to twist at the waist and force Steve to roll, to lessen his grip on the arm he'd originally had secure in his grasp, and from that point, it was on. Ever prepared, Wo Fat reached into his coat for the second firearm he usually kept on his person. Danny, unable to do anything else at the moment except watch, yelled out the warning.

"Steve, gun!"

It was virtually impossible to keep up with the flurry of hand to hand combat that was taking place, but Danny plainly saw the second gun fly out of Wo Fat's hand and skitter across the floor, and instead of going for the weapons, both Steve and Wo Fat settled in for close quarters combat. For every punch Steve threw, Wo Fat landed one of his own. For every block, there was a return strike, harder and faster than the initial one. But it was when Steve was pushed against the glass wall that Danny knew Wo Fat had made his fatal error, and the detective moved his legs, wiggling them a bit in the air as he watched Steve continue to spar with the man who Danny considered to the be the Bastard of the Year. It took only one moment of his eyes meeting that of his partner's and a quick nod from Danny for Steve to suddenly box Wo Fat's sides as if he were boxing a naughty child's ears, and shove him back…

…right into Danny's waiting legs, which quickly received and tangled around Wo Fat's body in a vice grip. His bad knee, which had taken the kendo stick dead on earlier, was protesting viciously, but Danny continued to squeeze. It seemed like a life time, but it was really only a matter of seconds before he watched as Steve surged forward, placed his hands on either side of Wo Fat's head, and quickly snapped his neck to the right. The sickening crunch of bones breaking and twisting in ways they shouldn't echoed throughout the room, and Wo Fat went limp, held up only by the strength of Danny's legs; the cop let him fall, and both he and Steve looked on as their tormentor's head bounced off the concrete. His body lay limp and Steve leaned over him, gingerly placing two fingers against the man's oddly cricked neck to feel for a pulse and letting out a harsh breath of relief after just a few seconds.

"Dead," he pronounced, taking a knee next to the body and searching any pockets he could find, finally coming up with the Danny's phone in one hand and the key to the cuffs in the other. He stood up, making for Danny, and it was only then, now that the haze of fighting had cleared, that they both could hear the commotion coming from outside the room. "Pretty sure that's the cavalry," Steve remarked, reaching up and unlocking the chains with the key he'd found on Wo Fat's body. He uncuffed the man carefully, easing the first arm down slowly and following suit with the second before wrapping an arm around Danny's waist to help shoulder some of his weight. "How's the knee?"

"Hurt's like hell, but I'll live." Danny nudged Wo Fat's body with a weary foot. "Sure he's dead this time?" When he didn't get an answer, he looked up at his partner and found that he was staring down at the body. "Babe; you alright?" The only response he got was a gentle squeeze from the arm around his waist.

Staring at Wo Fat's body was how the rescue team found them just a few moments later. After Steve and Danny had been identified as the packages, Steve scooped up his phone and blasted a text to Joe.

 _All good here. OTW home._

"Think there's a way we can keep him on ice?"

Steve blinked at Danny. "What?"

"You know so that one day, in the future, when we have the ability to bring someone back to life, I can kill him again just for the hell of it?" Danny looked half way serious, and all Steve could do was drop his head and laugh quietly as he helped the detective out of the room, the rescue team escorting them along the hallway towards freedom and home. "Your request is noted; acceptance is pending."

"Oh, you think you're funny, huh? Funny guy? Look, do me and the rest of Hawaii a favor, okay? Don't quit your day job."


	5. Chapter 5

_**Hawaii Five-O - 5:45am, Hawaii Time. 1:15am, the following day, Tokyo Time.**_

 _ **Day 2**_

It was a flurry of activity for the next few hours. Between getting Steve and Danny out of the compound Wo Fat had held them captive in, traveling back to Atsugi Naval Base, treating Danny's injuries (he would later claim to have been the model patient but Steve would venture to guess that he was testing even the naval medical team, who was trained to triage in combat zones, to their limit), and getting them both settled in the medical ward, it was nearing 6:00am in Hawaii.

That hadn't stopped Steve from speaking with Joe, or Chin and Kono. He'd even spoken to Rachel and Grace for a few minutes each, assuring them that they would be home before the next morning and that both he and Danny were right as rain, if only a little banged up and in need of a few solid hours of sleep which Danny was getting a head start on. Grace took his assertions at face value. Rachel was far wiser.

" _You're sure Danny's alright, Steve?"_

"He will be, Rachel, you know how stubborn he is. Like I said, Wo Fat worked him over pretty good but it's nothing he won't bounce from."

" _And this Wo Fat? Where is he?"_

"He uh… he won't be a problem anymore."

The silence on the other end of the line was something Steve was all too familiar with. After nearly eight years of knowing Rachel, Steve knew that she understood that the life of a cop meant one of occasionally having to take lives, but that silence, that moment of absorbing the fact that someone she knew, someone she placed her trust in to care for her children had actually gone through with killing another human being was something she had to do. Steve didn't begrudge her for it.

" _You're certain?"_

"Yes."

A long, slow breath was heard on the other end of the line. _"Alright. You must be exhausted. If you wouldn't mind asking Danny to call once he's awake? Grace-"_

"I won't have to ask him to call, Rachel; it'll be the first thing he wants when he wakes up."

" _Okay. Thank you, Steve. And may I say, I'm very glad you're alright."_

"Thanks. Tell Grace and Charlie I love them, okay? We'll see them real soon." He ended the call and allowed his head to drop against the wall he'd been leaning on just outside the infirmary while he'd spoken to everyone. There was a part of him that was having a hard time believing that this was all over where Wo Fat was concerned. He'd replayed the moment he'd killed the man over and over in his head, felt the popping of vertebra against his hands, heard the bones cracking as he'd shifted the neck with fatally blinding speed, remembered the sound Wo Fat's head made as it cracked against the flooring. Steve knew it would take a while for those images to fade from the forefront of his mind, but unlike several of the other men whose lives he'd had to take over the course of his career, he didn't think that this one would bother him as much as the others had.

Steve slid from the wall and headed back into the infirmary, reclaiming the seat that was placed right next to Danny's bed and folding his arms, quietly assessing the sleeping man in front of him. Two bruised ribs, another one fractured just slightly, had been wrapped tightly with the tenderness only a military medic could provide; at least, that's what Danny had said. Steve was fairly certain his friend was being sarcastic. Numerous bruises on his chest, back, stomach, and legs were beginning to darken, and those were the ones that hadn't been patched with gauze. There were a few hovering just around Danny's kidney area that had given the medics some concern, and they were watching the man's urine output to ensure there was no internal bleeding resulting from the beating he'd received. His knee was currently wrapped tightly with a cold compress being laid on it every 20 to 30 minutes by one of the nurses. Steve knew Danny would likely have to make an appointment with his GP once he got home to repair any damage that had been done. The detective was going to love that.

Finally, Steve's eyes drifted to the wounds that had horrified him the most, partially because he'd earned them himself at various points in the past, but mostly because Danny had been forced to undergo the torture of the cattle prod. Specialized, circular burn bandages had been fastened to each of the electric burns after antibiotic ointments had been applied and the area around the wounds had been properly cleaned. When the medic had seen the burn on Danny's leg, he'd given both men a look, indicating that while he would clean, treat, and bandage it just like all the others, Danny should have it looked at once he returned home to determine if more aggressive treatment would be needed. Danny had nodded, thanked the man, and asked facetiously if the medic could pull his hospital gown down as he was feeling a draft in places he shouldn't. To Steve's relief, as well as the medical staff's, the snarky detective had fallen asleep fairly quickly afterwards.

Now, as Steve stared at Danny, half of his brain was obsessing over the fact that his war with Wo Fat was now over, and the other half was in overdrive about Danny and what their lives would be like once they returned to the islands. Steve had already resolved to himself that he wouldn't mention the offer he'd made to Danny while they were still in Japan, or still within the confines of a military base. He imagined they had quite a bit to discuss, and they needed to have that conversation when they had plenty of time and privacy to do so.

Danny's reaction hadn't exactly been a negative one – on the contrary, if they'd been in a different situation, one where their lives weren't in danger, Steve imagined that Danny's response might have gone something like, _'Finally, the animal says how he really feels!'_ That was how it had felt, anyway: relief. Relief that one of them had finally said it. After all the jokes from their team about arguing like an old married couple, after Steve and Danny themselves calling, in jest, their partnership a 'marriage', after all the break ups both men had gone through, hang ups in other relationships, after everything they'd endured – kidnappings by Wo Fat, the murder of Danny's brother, Steve's' mother's re-emergence, Catherine popping in and out, Charlie's illness, the any number of times Grace's life had been put in danger – it appeared that it was finally happening.

There weren't going to be anymore jokes, no more humorous comparisons between them and a bickering couple, no more side glances or secret smiles or holding back what they really wanted to say – that was more for Steve than it was for Danny; nothing stopped Danny Williams from speaking his mind. No more wondering what Danny would do if Steve suddenly chose to hold his hand while sitting near the ocean in his backyard. No more wondering what it would be like to kiss a man – to kiss Danny, specifically, because Steve had never looked at a man in any romantic way until Danny, and he was certain that it would only ever be Danny that he looked at from here on out.

Steve resolved that he was going to find out the answers to all those questions and more, as he settled into the chair, keeping a watchful vigil over his partner.

 _ **Hawaii Five-O - 6:00pm, Hawaii Time.**_

 _ **Day 2**_

After spending a few extra hours in the infirmary at Atsugi and then hopping a military flight back to Pearl-Hickam, Steve and Danny were finally home. Danny had slept most of the flight, which left Steve to his own devices for entertainment. That normally would have been a pretty big risk, but the SEAL was no moron – he knew where and when to not dick around, and a military flight was one of those places. So, he made small talk with the crew, talked to Danny when the man was awake between naps, and read whatever was available to him.

When they finally touched down at the joint air force/naval base, Steve was ready with Danny's crutches, handing them to his partner and motioning to him to stand when Steve knew it was safe to do so. While the medics had strongly insisted to Danny that he should go to the hospital first thing, Danny had shrugged off the suggestion. "I'll see my GP as soon as they'll let me in for an appointment, but I'm sleeping in my own bed tonight." Steve hadn't argued; he knew better.

As they plotted their way down the ramp, Steve largely backed off, only walking next to Danny and letting the man make his way over to an eagerly waiting Grace on his own. He knew Danny didn't need or want to be coddled, especially in front of his daughter, who Danny was going to be spending considerable time convincing that, like always, 'Danno was just fine.' He heard Grace ask her father why he was on crutches as she hugged him gently -she was an instinctive young lady, Steve had to admit - and heard Danny explain that he'd just banged it up a little, that it was no big deal, and the pair went right back to holding each other. Steve just looked on, smiling.

"Good to have you home, brah," Chin sidled up next to him, clapping a warm hand on his back and giving Danny and Grace, and now Rachel as she'd finally joined the duo, some time just to themselves. Kono and Joe followed Chin's lead, each greeting Steve warmly and looking him over for any injuries he may have been hiding. "I'm okay, really," Steve assured them quietly, looking at his two teammates and his onetime commander, and for just a brief moment, he knew that the guilt shone through his face like sunlight streaking through a newly cleaned window.

"Don't, Steve," Joe ordered. "You're both home. You'll both be alright. Wo Fat is dead. Don't blame yourself for anything either you or Danny went through."

And for the moment, that was that. The foursome slowly migrated towards Danny, Rachel, and Grace, and Steve could just make out Danny asking about Charlie's whereabouts. "He doesn't really understand what's happened, so I left him with his nanny, but I told him that maybe you would be up for breakfast tomorrow morning?" Rachel lifted her eyebrows in question. "I could drop the children off at your place before I go to work?"

"That's the best idea you've had, ever. Thanks." Danny smiled at her, and she murmured an 'of course', smiling at him quietly.

"Hear that? No school for you or your brother tomorrow." Grace smiled, giggling quietly against Danny's shoulder as her father brought her close again.

"Well if anyone deserves a day off school, it's definitely Grace," Kono smiled at Danny. "You should've seen her; she got home yesterday, noticed an unmarked car out of place and got a bad feeling. So, she called her mother, then you, then Steve, and when she didn't get an answer, she called us." Grace's eyes darted shyly around the group, and she unconsciously hugged her father a bit closer to her. "She was so calm the whole way through. You should be proud of her, Danny; you both should," she amended, nodding at Rachel.

"I don't think I was that calm," Grace muttered, looking at everyone. "I didn't feel calm…especially when I heard the gunshots outside." Seeing Steve she inched forward a little and Danny let her go, nudging her gently towards the man who embraced her tightly and spoke quietly to her. "I'll tell you a secret, Gracie; the second you ever feel completely calm in a situation like that is the moment when we'll all begin to worry about you. You did great, exactly the right thing to do." He dropped a kiss to her hair and stepped back. "We about ready? I think Hickam might want their airfield back at some point."

"I wanna stay with Danno," Grace murmured, looking between her parents.

"Maybe in a few days, sweetheart," her mother stepped up, smoothing her hair and smiling gently. "Your father needs a bit of rest, I think. But, there will still be breakfast tomorrow?" She shot Danny a look.

"Yes, yes, definitely, yes. There will be breakfast tomorrow, I promise Monkey. 100% guarantee." Danny held out an arm for her and gave her one last hug before whispering he loved her and sending her off with Rachel, making sure to thank the woman again for her idea of a morning meal with the kids. It wasn't long before he felt the team at his back. "Alright, I see my car – where are my car keys?" He swiveled around on the crutches, flexing his fingers and looking at Chin, but instead of handing the keys over to Danny, Chin passed them right over to Steve, who grabbed and jingled them in front of his partner's face before taking off for the Camaro and leaving Danny sputtering on the tarmac.

"They're – they're my keys, Chin; they're _my_ keys! Mine, it's _my car_! I can drive my own car, I'm not an invalid!"

"Sorry Danny; boss man already called the driver's seat." Danny didn't miss the fact that Chin didn't look sorry at all. "Okay, just for that, you get no hug. Kono gets a hug, and Joe gets the hug you were gonna get from me." Kono and Joe happily stepped forward to each claim a hug from the irritated Italian, and when Chin stepped forward, Danny actually turned as if to walk away before chuckling and wrapping his arms around the man. He heard the soft purr of the Camaro's engine pull up just behind him and he suddenly felt the burden of exhaustion set in. "Okay, so I think I'm uh… yea, I'm gonna sleep. Sleep for maybe the next two weeks of my life and then maybe think of taking up a less dangerous profession, like owning a Christmas Mouse shop or something." He watched Steve reach over and pop the passenger side door open from the driver seat. "Control freak," he muttered, sliding into the car as the team chuckled. Joe shut the door behind him once Danny was all in, waved, and tapped the top of the car, signaling Steve to go but not without making a declaration that he felt was important to reiterate.

"This is my car."

"This is your car that you're issued to use, yes," Steve corrected.

"No, Steven, this is _my_ car. Mine, those are _my_ keys you grabbed from Chin." It was a few moments before they cleared the base, but once they did, Steve shot through the gates like a bat out of Hell and Danny gave a yelp as his crutches fell off to the side against the window. "Hey, hey, Speed Racer take it easy, okay? I just survived an 18-hour tour of torture via the Asian Pacific's Most Wanted Sociopath – I would very much hate to have made it through all of that just to plow into the jersey wall on the way home, alright?"

"I'm barely over the speed limit, Danno, just relax."

"If by 'barely' you mean 17 miles per hour over the speed limit then you'd be correct, Steven, but I have a feeling that if HPD pulled you and you tried to spin them that line, they'd have a very different idea of what the word 'barely' means."

"Maybe, but HPD won't pull this car." Steve grinned, and pressed the gas pedal down even further, laughing internally as Danny continued to passenger-side drive.

This was good. This was normal. They were home.

Everything was going to be alright.

 _ **Hawaii Five-O - 2:00am, Hawaii Time.**_

 _ **Day 3**_

Steve startled awake, blinking his tired eyes rapidly as they attempted to adjust to the mixture of darkness and the soft glow of the television that had been left on. He took a moment to center himself, remember where he was, and then he heard it again – the noise that had awoken him in the first place. He took a breath, feeling warmth to his left and looked over to see Danny, and Steve's brain caught up with the scene in front of him. He'd gone back to Danny's place and insisted on staying over the night to ensure the detective didn't have any complications from his injuries. Danny hadn't argued, and they'd both settled on the couch next to each other, putting on a game – football, if Steve's memory served – and moving the coffee table closer to the edge of the couch to serve as a kind of ottoman, wooden and hard as it may be. At some point, they'd nodded off, but now Steve was awake, listening to the telltale, heart-wrenching whimpers of a man who was locked in a nightmare; it was three guesses as to what was tormenting Danny, and Steve didn't need the first two.

When a person made the decision to join the military, of any country, that person had to understand the risks of doing so; they'd be away from home, time with their families would be sparse, they would be sent into combat zones, they'd be shot at, and, possibly, they'd be taken hostage and tortured. If a person aspired to join one of the elite squads, such as SEAL's or Green Beret's, those risks would increase exponentially. The armed forces prepared their men and women for those possibilities as best as they could. Steve had knowingly, willingly made that choice, but the same couldn't be said for Danny.

Before his first opportunity to experience pain delivered at the hands of another human being, Steve, young and cocky Navy man that he was, would have told a curious person that if a person could get through the pain, they'd be just fine afterwards. Then came the day where Steve had to test that theory for himself, and needless to say, that belief had been shattered rather quickly. He'd had nightmares before, but nothing reaching the level of the terrors that plagued him in his sleep for months after he'd endured the deliberate agony that had been inflicted on him. But perhaps the worst part of it was that he'd had to deal with it alone. He hadn't met Catherine yet, he and his father didn't see each other very often owing to their schedules but more to Steve's, but mostly it was that Steve had been trained to compartmentalize, to push through whatever it was that ailed him. Bad dreams weren't an excuse to not perform at peak level; his team, the military, the country depended on him, on every soldier being able to do their job.

Now, watching Danny jerk and shift sharply against the couch, knowing that he was fighting Wo Fat in his dreams, hearing his partner's discomforting moans, Steve shifted onto his left side and lifted his hands, one easing behind Danny's neck and the other gliding softly up and down his arm in an attempt to gently and slowly wake him up rather than shock him to consciousness.

"Danny, wake up. Come on, you're alright. You're alright. You're home, Danno, come on; wake up." His voice was light, barely above a whisper as he urged Danny to open his eyes, and when he did, Steve pursed his lips, his own heart sinking at the fear swimming freely in Danny's azure gaze that looked back at him, almost not believing that Steve was there, that he was still back in that cell, hanging from the ceiling, pain being inflicted on him at Wo Fat's will. "S'ok, Danny, it's okay. You're home. You're home, you're alright." Steve pressed his fingers gently massaged the back of Danny's neck, and the latter's eyes finally focused on his own hazel ones, his rapid, hitched breathing eventually evening out and his body sagging back against the couch. Once or twice, Danny's eyes closed, a soft groan escaping as he allowed the comfort of Steve's fingers to press over and over again into his neck.

"You're alright," Steve murmured, sliding the hand on his arm to rest gently against Danny's stomach, encouraging him to stay where he was, get his bearing's. Eventually, Danny's gaze rested on Steve's calm and anchored to reality.

Both men were silent for a long time, Danny content to bask in Steve's presence and Steve silently thanking whatever higher power there was that he could be there to talk Danny through the first of what he knew would be several nightmares he would likely have to suffer. The only time they broke eye contact was to blink or shift their positions. Eventually, Danny edged close enough to Steve that there were only a few inches separating detective from commander.

"You wanna talk about it?" Steve shifted a bit and rested his head on the back of the couch, still facing Danny, whose eyes followed his through all the movement. The SEAL didn't push; God knew pushing Danny right now would not do either of them any favors, but Steve didn't think he'd have as much trouble getting his partner to open up as he himself would give anyone else asking him to do the same. If there was one thing Daniel Williams was never shy about, it was his feelings. When he did speak, his voice was like gravel, tired and worn.

"You remember me telling you that I knew what I was in for?"

Steve nodded. Danny inhaled quietly.

"I don't know if you know this but, uh… Wo Fat – he'd recorded his uh… his sessions – with you, specifically." He nodded at Steve's stunned expression. "The one in North Korea, and the one from a few years ago." Danny's tongue flicked nervously at his lips and he unconsciously brought his right hand to settle overtop the hand Steve still had resting on his stomach. "You got gypped in your suite, babe," he chuckled, and it was the kind of hysterical giggle Danny would get when he was mentally overwhelmed or when a situation was so completely ridiculous that it warranted a half-crazed chortle. "My room had a TV. Wo Fat, gracious host that he was, didn't want me to get bored while we waited for you." He sobered as his gaze latched onto Steve's again.

"He made you watch."

Danny nodded.

A vaguely familiar burning sensation wove its way through Steve's chest. The fingers of his hand that was resting just under Danny's twitched, eventually folding and interlacing with his friend's. Danny didn't seem to mind.

"That what the nightmare was about?"

Danny nodded slowly, tightening his grip just slightly on Steve's hand and bringing his other to pinch the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes for a few moments. The man was haunted, and he would be for a while yet, Steve knew that much.

"What the hell is on the TV right now?"

"Uh…" Steve took a breath and angled his head just enough that he could make out an infomercial about vacuum cleaners. Danny was still talking.

"Do they find the same portly, balding old schmuck for every one of these things or do they just make them up like that on purpose?"

"Danny."

A deep breath. A quiet sigh. Another shift on the couch and Danny's side, from hip to shoulder, gently pressed against Steve's. "Out of everything, that was one of the worst parts."

Steve watched Danny's eyes fall closed, but not before he caught the glazed, glassy sheen in them. "One of the worst?"

"The worst was hearing Grace's voicemail," Danny continued, inhaling a shaken breath. "Knowing that Wo Fat was that close to getting her and Charlie, that if she hadn't followed her instincts and called Chin and Kono that he'd have one or both of my kids…and God, Steve you know, _you know_ I love you and would do anything I could to protect you and your family, even your mother who I have _several_ issues with-"

"Danny- "

"-but those are my kids and-"

"Danny, Danny, Danny, hey, easy…easy, Danno, easy, it's okay." And Steve was back to soothing his partner once again, gently rubbing the nape of Danny's neck and speaking in calm, tender tones. "I'd never ask you to sacrifice Gracie or Charlie for me or any other member of my family, Danny, okay? _Never_. I love your kids, okay, I look at them as… as if they were my own." The heavy feeling in his chest was back and Steve found himself taking several breaths to ease the pressure there, not to mention in his throat. He wasn't sure when he'd brought his other hand up to the man's chest, but he also didn't particularly care, nor did he care that he and Danny were nose to nose at the moment with how they were positioned. For whatever reason, the closeness, the tactile ways they'd related to one another over the years had never bothered Steve. He'd always just chalked it up to their own way of communicating with one another, and thank God for that because it was what was allowing him to take Danny through his first full breakdown following his ordeal with Wo Fat.

His left hand, which had been on Danny's neck, fell away and Steve snaked his arm loosely around the man's lower back while his other arm rested carefully on Danny's torso. It was an awkward way to hold a person on a couch – Steve on his side, both arms wrapped around his partner who was at least three quarters of the way on his back, both men's heads turned so they were facing the other – but it was working for them at the moment.

Steve had never considered himself a person who could easily offer sympathy or comfort, mostly because it had very, very rarely ever been offered to him. But for the next ten minutes, it was _his_ shoulder Danny cried silent tears on, _his_ waist Danny wound his arms around, _his_ voice that whispered reassurances that reached Danny's heart and soul, easing the man into a calmer state.

And it was his mouth that accidently brushed against Danny's when one of them – Steve wasn't sure which, probably both – shifted. Steve swallowed hard, an apology ready on his lips when he saw Danny shake his head, silently telling him with a look that it wasn't necessary. Instead, the shorter man inched that much closer until he and Steve's faces were so close that it was physically uncomfortable to keep their eyes on each other's for longer than a few seconds. Danny blinked lazily, studying the face of the man in front of him. Steve soundlessly did the same.

"You know," Danny cleared his throat, "now that I think about it, that cattle prod wasn't so great either."

Steve had no idea why he laughed at that, but he did, shaking his head. "Yea, that thing's a bitch. Speaking of which, you really do need to get that wound on your leg looked at, Danno."

"I will," Danny assured him softly, allowing the quiet to envelope them both again as he went back to studying Steve.

"Danny."

"Hm?"

"What's goin' on in that head of yours?"

It was an easy choice for Danny to make. He could tell Steve, or he could show him. He chose the latter, leaning forward, and gently pressing a kiss, softer than he ever thought he was capable of giving, against Steve's mouth, hearing, _feeling_ the man's intake of breath against his own lips. It was a feather's touch, a ghostly caress that ebbed and flowed with equal parts confidence and shyness. He felt Steve tighten his hold just slightly around his torso, and Danny quirked a smile against his partner's mouth, pulling back slightly and gently bumping his nose affectionately against Steve's before taking the SEAL's mouth again, just as softly as he had the first time.

There was no desire to rush, no need to stir up the passion, no need to plunder and deepen and own each other's mouths or turn their first kiss into something frenzied and wanton and dirty; this was each man's initial foray into same sex attraction after all. It was a new avenue of not only their relationship, but their lives that they would be exploring together. But if Danny's heart rate and Steve chasing his mouth whenever Danny pulled away was any indication, wanton, frenzied, and dirty might be sooner on the horizon than either of them could have initially thought. For now though, slow, sweet, and tender won the race for them both. It was a few minutes before they gave themselves a moment to pause and assess, to breathe and absorb the other.

"Tha-that was…" Steve couldn't finish he statement. It was what? Nice? Wonderful? Perfect? No one word could describe it and he wasn't about say something and have it come out wrong or not be enough, so he settled for nothing. And of course, Danny knew just how to read him, understood exactly why he said nothing – not because it wasn't good, but because it was _too_ good.

"Yea, me too, babe," the blonde rewarded Steve with a tired little grin and let his eyes fall closed. "Gotta think about where you're takin' me on that date," he muttered. He felt Steve pull him closer and obliged the other man, lifting his head just enough to rest it firmly in the crook where shoulder met chest. How many times had they sat together on his couch, or Steve's, in a similar position just watching a movie or a game?

"Already thought about it. I know where we're going."

"Oh yea? Where?"

"It's a surprise."

The room was quiet for a few minutes, the only sound the breathing of two comfortable, safe, and warm Five-O officers.

"Can – can it not be a surprise? Okay, because every time you have a surprise, I wind up needing medical attention and I think I've had enough of that to last me quite some time, you know what I mean?"

"Go to sleep, Danno," Steve muttered, but he couldn't stop the chuckle against his partner's hair.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Hawaii Five-O – 7:00pm, Hawaii Time**_

 _ **1 Week Later**_

Danny looked in the mirror for what had to have been the ninth time in the last five minutes, huffing out a breath filled with nervous energy. If he were honest, he looked damn good; tan slacks, a thick, short sleeved v-neck shirt, covered with a navy-blue sports coat that Danny knew from experience set off his eyes, blonde hair slicked back and clean shaven – yes, Danny would have been quite the prize for anyone looking for a catch that night. But even he had to admit that his jitters were putting a cramp in his attractiveness scale.

Being anxious before a date wasn't foreign to Danny – hell, he'd practically given himself a panic attack five years ago asking Gabby out for a coffee. But this date was different. This date wasn't about finding out if the other person liked him. No, this date was literally about his future, and about Steve's future. Tonight was about finding out if everything he and, arguably, the most important person in his life next to Grace, had been feeling for who knew how long was worth pursuing. If it was, fantastic! If they mutually decided it was not, fine and dandy; Danny was certain their relationship wouldn't change.

But if it went the other way – if the decision wasn't reciprocated, if one of them still pined after the other, then Danny didn't know what would happen. It was the number one reason why he'd never said anything, and he knew without having to ask Steve that it was his reason too. There were others, of course, but that was the main issue. Their jobs, their very lives every day depended on the bond they'd created and nurtured over nearly eight years together. Steve and Danny had developed such a connection that it took only a look, a body stance, a gesture of the hand for them to communicate effectively. With the type of cases Five-O was involved with regularly, from murders to weapons and drug running to human trafficking, that type of link was invaluable. It couldn't be replicated; no one could do for Danny what Steve did for him, and vice versa. More to the point, Danny wouldn't want anyone else to. He suspected Steve felt the same.

So this dalliance into romance between the two of them really needed to work out, because Danny knew that if it didn't, either he or Steve or both would be out of a job.

With one last look at his reflection, Danny blew out another puff of nervous energy, grabbed his keys and headed out the door. Steve had asked him to meet him at his place, and Danny had never been so thankful to live as close to Steve as he did. He felt like the sooner he got to Steve's and this evening actually started was the sooner he could have some kind of idea of what his life was going to be like for the next year.

Or 20. Maybe. Possibly.

The Camaro came to stop outside Steve's house, right behind the Silverado. Danny killed the engine and the lights and just sat there for a few minutes, attempting to ground himself while his thumbs beat out an anxious pattern against his steering wheel. If he kept at it much longer, he was sure he was going to permanently indent the leather that covered it. With one final slap against the wheel, Danny pulled the keys from the ignition, pocketed them, and hopped out of the vehicle, taking care to lock it as he headed purposefully up the walk, wincing only just at the pain of his leg. While the doc had said the cattle prod wound was well on its way to healing, along with his ribs, both areas were still tender, and while his torso would be just fine in time, it would be a while yet before knowing if any permeant nerve damage had been suffered in his thigh. Danny got to the door.

And paused.

Knock? Don't knock and go in? _I'm going to drive myself crazy before we even get started_ , Danny thought to himself, running a hand on the side of his head. He decided on both – knocking once, and then opening the door and stepping into Steve's living room. "Steve?" Danny peered about, closing the door quietly behind him.

"Kitchen!"

And that was when the delicious wave of… something, Danny wasn't sure, hit him full force. It smelled suspiciously like some kind of pasta and sauce mixture, and Danny frowned as he moved forward. Sure enough and true to his word, there was Steve standing in front of a stove bubbling with water in one pot, and sauce in another, dressed in cargo pants and a t-shirt, a stupid happy grin plastered on his face. For once, Danny was speechless.

For about ten seconds.

"Yea? You like?" Steve stirred the sauce in the pot gently a few times as Danny attempted to mix sound with mouth movement to produce a sentence.

"I – yea, I like, but uh… I thought – you said to dress a little nice tonight; I thought we were goin' out." He leaned against one of the counters near the entrance to the kitchen and lifted himself on his toes just slightly.

"I got plans, Danno, I promise, and I'm changing my clothes too; I just don't want to get sauce all over the nice ones while I'm cooking. You know how bad tomato sauce spits when it's boiling?"

"Uh, yea," Danny pushed off the counter and ambled over, hands in his pockets as he observed the sauce. "If I may?" He gestured to the oven and Steve nodded. "You don't want the sauce at a hard boil," the blonde turned the heat down about two notches and stepped back. "Burns out the taste." He smiled, looking back up at Steve, whose gaze was trained on him, and not the oven. They stood watching each other for a few seconds before Steve cleared his throat. "You… you look good, Danny," he murmured quietly. It wasn't often that Danny felt flushed but the back of his neck suddenly got very warm, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the heat emanating from the stove. A smile tugged at the corner of his lip. "Go change. I got this." He shoved Steve gently away from the oven, ushering him out of the kitchen and sending him upstairs.

It seemed that Steve had taken it upon himself to prepare an Italian style dinner. Danny could tell by the smell of the pasta that was just about ready to be pulled from the water that McGarrett had chosen a brand that was top of the line, or just about, and while Danny knew that Steve had taken up cooking as a hobby recently, he also knew that his friend didn't know the first thing about Italian.

It tugged at Danny's heart that Steve had wanted to do this for their date. The man knew Danny missed New Jersey, especially the food; Hawaii may have been Danny's home now, but there were certain things that the Aloha State simply couldn't replicate. Steve was trying to give him that little piece of home, and it was that realization that calmed him right down, evened out his nerves. Danny looked around the kitchen. Steve had been busy indeed.

Of course, it would be completely unlike his partner to not have the healthy options. Danny noticed a bowl filled with rich, leafy greens, tomatoes and feta cheese. A bottle of Italian style dressing sat right beside the bowl, and next to that was a loaf of Italian bread, which appeared to be dripping with a buttery concoction. Danny inched closer, seeing a cup with a brush inside and lifted it to his nose taking a sniff; butter, parmesan, and garlic salt. Well, he knew exactly what to do with that. He opened the oven door, happy to see that it was sufficiently pre-heated, and, finding a flat baking sheet, slid the loaf of bread onto it and placed it in the oven, setting the timer for five minutes.

Danny was just rinsing the cup with the basting brush in the sink when he heard the shuffling of feet in the kitchen doorway. He glanced over his shoulder, taking the man in. Cargo pants and tee-shirt gone, Steve had exchanged those for khaki's and a dark blue button down. Dark brown dress shoes completed his look as he'd decided against a matching coat for the evening. Danny felt himself releasing a quiet sigh as his eyes looked over the man in front of him. "I always did say you clean up nice, babe," he smiled softly at him.

Ten minutes later and they were both sitting on the lanai across from one another, a table between the two – Steve had even had the foresight to purchase a red table cloth – pasta, salad, bread, and beer laid out in quite the spread. And they talked. They talked about everything – Grace, Charlie, work, how Danny's injuries were healing, pending cases, Kono and Adam, Chin, Abby, and Sarah, Grover and how Will was doing following the incident at the Winter Formal where he and Grace, along with the rest of their class had been taken hostage. The conversation flowed easily from one subject to the next; there was never a time where there was dead air, never a moment when there wasn't something to talk about.

It was the most natural either had felt in a long, long time.

"So," Steve wiped his mouth with a napkin, grinning as Danny raised his eyebrows. "Verdict on the Italian dinner?"

"Uh, the verdict…" Danny scratched his cheek, looking out over the ocean. "I dunno, I think I might need another meal or two before I can offer any true insight." He snickered to himself and propped his chin on the heel of his hand as Steve responded with what was quite possibly his most devastatingly innocent puppy dog look. Danny couldn't take it.

He offered a gentle smile Steve's way. "Perfect." The million wattage grin he got from Steve, not unlike the one he got when, say, showing little Aloha girls how to throw a knife into a tree, was more than worth the tease. Danny leaned forward enough to pluck his beer off the table and take a drink. "So. You said you had plans?"

"I did."

"Do you still have plans?"

"I do."

"Do those plans involve anything more at the house?"

Steve chuckled, enjoying the impatience Danny was showing. "Ready to leave?"

"Ready to move forward, more like."

"Well then," Steve casually tossed his napkin down and stood up, motioning for Danny to do the same. "Just let me grab a few things, and we'll get to the second half of the evening." He ducked into the kitchen while Danny started to clear the table. "Leave it," Steve called. Danny paused, his lower lip puffing out. "…leave what?"

"The table, the dishes, everything – leave it."

Well. There was a surprise; Mr. Ship Shape intentionally wanted Danny to leave a mess. "Uh… Steve, you ever try to clean sauce off a plate when it's been sitting for a while?"

"I'll throw them in some water when we get back and they'll be good to go by morning." Steve reappeared, a cooler now in his hand. "C'mon, let's go."

 _ **Hawaii Five-O – 9:00pm, Hawaii Time**_

 _ **Same Night**_

It didn't take long for Danny to figure out where Steve was taking him; he himself had taken the route often enough. The winding hills continued, up, up, up the Tantalus on Roundtop Drive until Steve parked the Camaro just a few feet away from the stone wall. Just beyond, Honolulu shone brightly beneath the look out, the lights so bright that they illuminated the gentle surf which lapped the beach line. Cars traveled up and down the streets, adding to the tranquility of the moment. For a city that could be so loud and boisterous, it certainly looked tame and peaceful from above.

Danny took a seat on the wall as he usually did, legs hanging over the side while he twisted just enough to see Steve grab the cooler out of the back seat and bring it forward and set it on the wall next to Danny. "Whatchya got in there?" Danny lifted his chin just a bit, watching as Steve opened the cooler and trying to sneak a peak.

"Alright, I admit that for dessert, I had to order out," Steve put a large plate with what Danny thought looked suspiciously like cannoli's, "but I got these from one of the best dessert shops in Honolulu, so they should be up to snuff. And, to wash it all down –" Steve reached into the cooler once more and pulled out a bottle of wine with two glasses, "Eh? Eh?" The man looked so pleased with himself Danny couldn't help but laugh as he reached for the wine. "Planned right down to a T, like a military SEAL op." Danny turned the bottle over in his hands and popped the cork, silently thanking Steve's foresight to do the initial opening of the wine and then simply corking it. He took a glass and poured one for Steve, then one for himself, and set the bottle on his left side while Steve took a seat on his right facing away from the city and opposite Danny as he always did, the plate of cannoli's between them. Danny wasn't able to wait any longer and he plucked a cannoli from the dish, taking a bite. Steve watched him like Danny was his mark.

"Oh yea," Danny groaned, and the SEAL silently thanked God that Danny's eyes were closed so that the other man didn't see him shift in his seat. His partner's face was the picture of bliss and gratitude, and dammit if Steve didn't actually have to look _away_ to keep himself from staring.

"I need the name and the address of this place," Danny muttered as he finished the cannoli and took a sip of wine. "Steve?"

"Yea, sorry, got uh, got distracted," Steve turned back to look at him and took a sip of his own wine before he answered. "It's Patisserie La Palme D'Or on Ala Moana. They got all kinds of stuff there, but someone told me the cannoli was out of this world, so."

"Well, I thoroughly agree with that," Danny rubbed his fingers together to rid them of the flakes from the pastry and heaved a contented sigh, looking over the city beneath them. "Tonight was great, buddy, thank you." He felt, rather than saw, the warm gaze Steve was giving him and took a breath, feeling a bit of his anxiety return. How the hell did one even start this conversation?

"I'm glad." Steve smiled at him, glancing down at the glass in his hands. "Great enough to do it again sometime? Maybe?" And Danny heard the hope in his voice, and all nervousness went out the window. "Yea, babe. Except," he cleared his throat and took the plate of cannoli's in hand, moving it to join the wine bottle on his left so that he could scoot a little closer to Steve, not quite touching, but definitely not nearly as much space between them as there'd been the last few minutes. "I think maybe I'll take charge and organize the second date night, maybe cook dinner or take us out some place I know you'll like, do something fun that you'd enjoy afterwards, and please notice that I said 'fun' and not 'life threatening'." He smirked, watching as Steve dropped his head and shook it, laughing quietly. "I know sometimes you forget the difference, so I'll need to remind you that a game of bowling or putt putt or bumper cars can be just as entertaining as jumping out of a plane or diffusing a bomb or hopping onto a helicopter that's already in the air just to toss someone down from it."

"Bumper cars?" And Danny couldn't have been surprised that Steve had decided to latch onto that activity. After all, it was one where he could utilize his driving skills – or lack thereof – and purposely hit other vehicles. It was the perfect thing for Steve, really, and Danny just shook his head and rolled his eyes in submission. "Yes, fine, okay? Bumper cars. Bumper cars is on the list for next time." He grinned, looking back over the city. "Animal."

"You like it." Steve glanced at him, and when he got no argument, he shifted a little closer, his shoulder now bumping gently into Danny's. "I uh… I brought you up here to talk about whatever this thing it is that we have, but now that we're here… it's the last thing I want to talk about." He saw Danny nod out of the corner of his eye and heard the soft 'why' from him.

"Because I… look, if we start talking about this thing and – I know – okay," Steve huffed quietly, frustrated with himself, but Danny just sat quietly, occasionally taking a sip of his wine as he waited patiently for his partner to work through what it was he needed to get out. "I love you," Steve finally uttered. "I'm not saying I'm _in_ love with you, but I feel like I can get there, you know, one day. Whatever we are, we stopped being platonic a long time ago and I still can't pin point exactly where along the line that was, but maybe it doesn't matter in the long run." His eyes fell closed and he took a deep breath. "I understand… you know, if maybe you're not as uh, on board, with this whole… thing as I am. I just want to know that this isn't gonna change anything between us, Danno."

"Steve-"

"I can deal with that. If we start down this path and you find that it doesn't work for you, I get it, I understand, _I will understand_. But I just… I don't – just don't _leave_ , Danny. Don't let this," he gestured between himself and the blonde beside him, "get in the way of our partnership at work or our friendship. That's all I ask."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa okay, slow down," Danny dropped his wine glass next to the cannoli's and the wine bottle and twisted himself a little more so that he could face the man beside him. "Okay, a few things; one, _I am not leaving_ , okay? Alright? I'm not going anywhere. You can't get rid of me that easily." Azure eyes held forest hazel ones until Danny was certain Steve got the message. "Two, I get that we don't exactly know what's going on with us. That's why we're gonna find out, and we're gonna find out together. You've never done this with a guy, I've certainly never done anything with a guy – it's always been the ladies for me – but rest assured that, on the off-chance things do not work out, you know… between us in that way… I'm not gonna leave. What am I gonna do, go back to New Jersey?"

Steve lifted his eyebrows, shock written on his face. "Well… yea," he muttered stupidly. "New Jersey is your home, your parents are there, you're sisters are there-"

"And you, and Grace, and Charlie are here," Danny affirmed looking him in the eye. " _This_ is my home now. This sandy, Hawaiian water torturing, pineapple infested, hula skirt wearing-"

Steve began to laugh.

"-lei… leing, ukulele playing Hell is my home now." Danny dipped his head, grinning as he tried to catch Steve's gaze again through the laughter. "Eight years ago, when I first came here, yes, absolutely, I wanted nothing more than to scoop Grace up and fly us both back to Jersey. But I don't feel that way anymore, babe. And that's because of a lot of reasons, but it's mostly because of you."

He watched Steve take a breath and center himself before looking back at Danny, and they both locked eyes on the other once more. "Yea?"

"Yea."

There were several ways that Danny could just tell when Steve had made a decision; the way his shoulders would sit back, or how his eyes would narrow, how his mouth would thin out. This time, it was the eyes. Steve focused on him and Danny could almost see the words 'target acquired' reflected back at him. It would have been a bit funny if Danny didn't know what Steve was preparing for. A nervous tongue flicked out between his lips and Danny could feel his breath catch in his throat as Steve leaned towards him, touching their foreheads together gently for a few moments. Danny knew that was Steve's way of giving him time enough to back out, to duck his head away, to place a hand on his chest and slow the moment down, but that wasn't happening. Not now, certainly not after the first kisses they'd shared on his own couch. Danny lifted his head just enough to softly brush his nose against Steve's, giving him silent permission to continue, and that was all his partner needed.

The first touch of Steve's lips against Danny's was soft, tender, a replay of their first one, but unlike their previous kiss, this one did not stay chaste. Experimental became outright desire after a short time as Steve commanded the other man's mouth to his own will, and a thrill went through Danny as he not only felt Steve take control, but on his own part willingly gave it up to him. He felt Steve gently press his tongue against his lips, quietly begging entrance and after a few teasing moments, Danny granted the man access, his lips parting enough to invite the searching warmth inside his own to mix and mingle with his own heat and for fuck's sake, how could either of them have ever entertained the idea for even a split second that this wouldn't work? Danny felt Steve's arm wrap around his stomach, holding him easily, careful of the injuries and wounds, but Danny also knew it was Steve's subconscious protecting him from falling off the edge and down the hill beneath them. His heart skipped a beat and he pressed his mouth forward, nibbling delicately at Steve's lips, hearing someone make a sound that was half way between a purr and a growl before he realized it was him.

Apparently, Danny wasn't the only one that was willing to vocalize; he heard Steve let out an honest to God whimper as he backed off Danny's swollen, red lips, and the detective could hear, see, _feel_ the man holding himself back as their foreheads touched once more, both of their shoulders and chests rising and falling heavily. Steve was as taut as a bow string, ready to snap if he was wound much tighter, and both he and Danny were panting quiet, desperate breaths.

"Okay, I..I…I don't think us connecting on the – on the physical level will be a problem anytime soon," Danny murmured, and Steve laughed, bringing his hand up to touch Danny's cheek and kiss him softly. "Yea, I think that fear's long gone." He pulled back just enough to look Danny in the eye, observing him for a few quiet moments, his thumb tracing gentle patterns on the blonde's cheek. He was almost shy when he spoke next. "I want us to try, Danny. I fully admit I have no idea what I'm doing, but… I want to try this, with you."

"You asking me to go steady, babe?"

"Are you saying yes?"

Danny took a breath, turning his mouth against Steve's hand and pressing a kiss into his palm, nipping at the skin there, and when he was this close to Steve, there was absolutely no way in Heaven or Hell that Danny could have missed the darkening of the other man's eyes in reaction to the barely there bite he'd given him.

"Yea, I am."

Danny was pulled into another kiss, elated when he could feel the Steve's smile against his own lips. It was the sound of glass breaking that made him pull back just enough to ask, "What was that?" He recognized the sheepish look on his partner's face. "Steve?"

The latter just looked down between his feet, his glass of wine having spilled and shattered onto the gravel and rocks at the foot of the wall. Danny raised expectant eyebrows, but Steve just shook his head, grinning, and uttering one word before kissing Danny again.

"Whoopsie."

"Whoospie? You just littered all over the side of the mountain. Animals live up here, Steven."

"I did not litter all over the side of the mountain."

"Oh, do you need the legal definition of litter? Because I'm pretty sure dropping glass shards onto public property meets the burden of proof."

" _Meets the burden of proof_ , what are you, a prosecutor now?"

"Detective, but g'head."

"Where's your law degree, Mr. Mason, huh? In your wallet?" Steve got up, looking down at the ground as he attempted to pluck the glass and various shards from the rocks and grass.

"Hey, at least I have my wallet!"

"I have my wallet too!"

"Yea? Does it have money in it?" The indignant look Steve gave him was all the answer Danny needed as he got up from the wall, grabbing his own glass, the bottle of wine, and the plate of cannoli's, leaving Steve to grab the cooler. "C'mon litter bug," he grinned at his partner and headed over to the car, continuing to bicker back and forth with him.

Yea; they were going to be just fine.


End file.
